By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Indonesia has tightened security at a port from where ferries cross to a penal island where nine drug convicts are expected to face a firing squad as early as Tuesday.
More than a thousand army and police personnel have been placed on alert around Wijayapura Port, Cilacap town, after eight foreigners and one Indonesian were issued 72-hour execution notices Saturday, the Kompas news website reported Monday.
Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Tony Spontana said Monday the execution preparations had been completed, and their timing would be announced Tuesday morning.
"About the last wishes, all of inmates want to be gathered with their family [before execution]," Tribunnews.com quoted him as saying.
Since being placed in isolation cells, the death row inmates are expressing their last wishes and receiving visits from family members who have been traveling to Nusa Kambangan.
Of the two sentenced Australians, Myuran Sukumaran has requested to be allowed to paint as much as possible while Andrew Chan has asked to go to church with family during his final days.
At Besi prison on Nusa Kambangan, Chan married his Indonesian girlfriend Febyanti on Monday.
"They have had a celebration inside the prison this afternoon, with close family and friends," ABC quoted Michael as saying. "It was an enjoyable moment. We would just like to celebrate that with him tomorrow as well."
Expressing his hopes that Indonesian President Joko Widodo might still show some compassion, Michael added: "It's tough times, but happy times at the same time.”
Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso has expressed her wish to spend her last night with family, and for her remains to be brought back to the Philippines.
Nigerian Raheem Agbajee Salami, on the other hand, wants to be buried in Madiun, a town where he was jailed and has a lover.
An appeal for Veloso’s life was requested from Widodo on Monday by his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III on the sidelines of the 26th ASEAN Summit in Malaysia.
The Philippines’ communications secretary said in a statement that Aquino had asked for “humanitarian consideration for Mary Jane Veloso who was apparently duped into being an unwitting carrier of illegal drugs.”
Rappler reported that Herminio Coloma Jr. said, “President Widodo was sympathetic and was consulting with the Indonesian Attorney General on the legal issues. President Widodo promised to resume the conversation with President Aquino later today.”
Retno Marsudi, Indonesian foreign minister, confirmed the short meeting, but did not address the possible results regarding Veloso’s sentencing.
Australia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, has expressed disappointment over Indonesia continuing execution preparations while the legal team of Chan and Sukumaran are still pushing for a challenge in Indonesia’s constitutional court.
Julie Bishop told ABC Radio on Monday, “there is also a separate investigation underway by the Indonesian judicial commission into claims of corruption in the original trial and both of these processes raise questions about the integrity of the sentencing and the clemency process.”
Earlier this year, a former lawyer for the two “Bali Nine” drug smuggling ringleaders had said that Sukumaran and Chan had ben offered lesser sentences in return for bribes by members of the Indonesian judiciary.
Attorney Todung Mulya Lubis has released a statement asking the government to stay the duo’s sentencing until the Judicial Commission rules on the case he filed in February regarding the handling of the 2005 trial.
Bishop’s comments have drawn responses from Indonesian officials, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla challenging the allegations and saying "prove it!”
Detik.com reported that Kalla said the problem was not Australia shedding light on the legal process in Indonesia, but that every country has its own legal system that must be respected.
The spokesperson of the Denpasar State Court that tried the Australians has expressed his shock at the accusation, which he said had deliberately surfaced ahead of the execution.
"I do not believe it," the news website quoted Hasoloan Sianturi as saying as he questioned why the graft allegations did not appear 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, a mortician in Cilacap, B. Suhendroputro, has prepared coffins for most of the nine inmates, as well as having crosses for the Christians among the group stenciled with the date 29.04.2015, according to News Corp Australia.
There had initially been 10 inmates among the group set to face the upcoming round of executions, but the sentencing of French inmate Serge Atlaoui has been delayed as he filed an appeal at the Administrative Court before the execution preparations.
Spontana has denied that the delay was due to pressure from French President Francois Hollande, who warned of diplomatic consequences if Indonesia followed through with the executions.
The planned executions have drawn protests from the governments of the inmate’s countries, the European Union and the United Nations.
The prisoners concerned are: Martin Anderson from Ghana, Zainal Abidin from Indonesia, Rodrigo Gularte (Brazil), Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso (the Philippines), Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (Australia), and Okwudili Oyatanze, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Raheem Agbajee Salami (Nigeria, although Salami is travelling on a Spanish passport).
* Anadolu Agency Correspondent Hader Glang contributed to this story from the Philippines.
