INDONESIA. GOVERNMENT URGED TO EXECUTE CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICEKRS ON DEATH-ROW SOON

March 22, 2005: a member of the House of Representatives Commission III, Almuzammil Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party, called on the Indonesian government to implement the death sentences of a number of convicted drug traffickers soon.
"The anti-drug campaigns being staged by National Drug Agency in some regions will not be effective if they are not supported by the accelerated execution of the death sentences of a number of drug traffickers," he said.
The executions would also serve as a "shock therapy", he said.
On the other hand, he added, if there were appeals for mercy from convicts, those appeals should also be decided in a short time.
He noted there were five people on death-row for serious drug offences at the Banten High Prosecutor's Office whose appeal for pardon had been turned down by the President. They were Indra B Tamang, Samuel Iwuchukuwu O, Hansen Anthony N, Namaona Denis and M Abdul Hafeez.
"Executing them soon will be a golden momentum for the anti-drug campaign. But if the executions are not carried out soon, drug trafficking will flourish again in line with globalisation and Indonesia's openness to the international world," he said. (Sources: LKBN ANTARA, 22/03/2005)