The Indonesian Government is preparing to go ahead with the third round of executions to take place under President Joko Widodo’s administration. In an attempt to prevent the “sinetron” drama (i.e. appeals for mercy and criticism from the international community) that took place before the last round of executions in 2015, the government has not been forthcoming with information about the exact date of the next executions.
However, in line with previous speculation, yesterday Attorney General HM Prasetyo did confirm that executions would take place after the end of the post-Ramadan Idul Fitri holiday. Prasetyo made the confirmation when asked by reporters about Indonesian drug kingpin Freddy Budiman.
“His execution will take place later, after Lebaran,” Prasetyo said as quoted by Kompas.
He also confirmed that the location for the executions would be Nusakambangan in Cilacap, Central Java.
“We have already coordinated with all parties, all that remains is the decision of what day it will take place on. So execution will be after Lebaran,” Prasetyo said.
Freddy was sentenced to death after being convicted of smuggling 1.4 million ecstasy pills from China to Indonesia in 2012. He later humiliated the government after it was proven that he was continuing to run his narcotics business from his jail cell in Cipinang prison, further exposing the corruption in the prison system.
There has not yet been any official word on who else the government is planning to execute during the round of executions, though previous statements have strongly suggested that it would be a mix of foreigners and locals convicted of drug-related crimes. During the first two rounds of executions last year, the government executed 14 people.
We have to ask – if government officials truly believe that it is morally acceptable to execute convicted criminals, why do they want to wait until after the end of the Holy Month to go through with it?
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