REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday issued another urgent request, rallying its members to call on the Indonesian authorities to immediately halt the plans to carry out any executions.
"One of the men has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, even though the international law could not be clearer on banning executions of those suffering from mental disabilities," Amnesty International noted in a statement.
Several prisoners have also been convicted of drug trafficking, despite the offences not meeting the threshold of "most serious crimes" for which the death penalty may be imposed under the international law, it stated.
"The failure to genuinely consider clemency applications on a case-by-case basis, for those sentenced to death for drug-related crimes, is contrary to the Indonesian Constitution and the international law and raises serious questions about the rule of law in Indonesia," Research Director of Southeast Asia and Pacific Regional Office of Amnesty International Rupert Abbott noted.
Indonesia's Attorney General has confirmed that 11 executions of death row prisoners convicted for drug trafficking and murder will be carried out imminently. The prisoners include both foreigners and Indonesian nationals.
"It is deeply troubling that the Indonesian government is apparently determined to push ahead with more killings, despite showing promise to move away from the death penalty until executions resumed in 2013," he stated.
The Indonesian government executed six people on January 19 and has announced plans to execute 14 more this year. The government has rejected all clemency pleas of death row prisoners.
"We urge President Widodo to change course immediately, before his early human rights record is tarnished further. The executions would also seriously undermine Indonesia's credibility to speak out about human rights at the regional and global level, including saving the lives of Indonesians on death row elsewhere," he added.
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