Indonesia prepares to execute 10 drug convicts including Ghanaian
Authorities in Indonesia are in final preparations to execute by firing squad the 10 drug convicts on death row, including one Ghanaian, Martin Anderson.
The authorities have asked consular officials of the countries of the convicts to send representatives to Nusakambangan where the executions will be carried out.
The convicts are from Australia, France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana.
Anderson, also known as Belo, was convicted of possession of 50 grammes of heroin in Jakarta in November 2003. The South Jakarta District Court sentenced him to death in June 2004, and he is due to be executed with nine others including two Australians Myuran Sukumaran, and Andrew Chan, two Nigerians Okwudili Oyatanze, and Raheem Agbaje Salami. The others are Indonesian Zainal Abidin, French Serge Areski Atlaoui, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and Filipino Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso.
The Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has rejected pleas for clemency from the convicts and other leaders.
Pleas for clemency for Brazilian Gularte on the grounds that he is mentally ill have also been rejected on the grounds that he was perfectly healthy when he committed the crime.
The Indonesia Supreme Court also turned down appeals for judicial review by Anderson and Frenchman Serge Areski Atlaoui on Tuesday April 21, 2015.
The three-judge panel rejected Atloui’s appeal because it found no mistake in the previous verdicts by lower courts, while Anderson failed to present new evidence to support his appeal, according to reports from Indonesia media citing a spokesman for the court who gave his name as Suhadi.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi