AGO Execute Drug Convicts Immediately

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Attorney General's Office has said it will immediately execute 11 death row convicts after their requests for clemency were rejected including two Australians who were members of the Bali Nine drug ring.

"The exact date has not yet been set," AGO spokesman Tony Tribagus Spontana said to Antara here on Wednesday.

He said the execution would be carried soon after all conditions relating to technical and judicial aspects of their cases were met.

The head of the National Anti-Narcotic Agency (BNN), Commissioner General Anang Iskandar, said BNN fully supported the execution of drug convicts to give a deterrent effect to drug kingpins.

He even wished the execution could be carried out as soon as possible to assure the effectiveness of their deterrent effect.

He said the most important thing with regard to execution was its deterrent effect.

"For it to be effective implementation of the execution must not be protracted. For an execution to be effective it must be carried out routinely," he said.

The AGO has received the Presidential Decrees rejecting the requests for clemency from the 11 death row convicts consisting of eight drug convicts and three murder convicts.

The three death convicts over murder cases are Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar, Harun bin Ajis and Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi who are all Indonesian citizens.

The eight drug convicts meanwhile are Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso (Filipino), Myuran Sukumaran alias Mark (Australian), Sergei Areski Atlaoui (French), Martin Anderson alias Belo (Ghanaian), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian), Raheem Agbaje Salami (citizen from Cordoba), Rodrigo Gularte (Brazilian) and Andrew Chan (Australian).

The AGO has recently executed six drug convicts including five foreigners after their request for clemency was rejected by President Joko Widodo.

The new president has taken a firm stance against drug convicts over concern of drug problems in the country, saying that Indonesia is in a state of drug emergency as some 50 drug addicts die daily, or 18 thousand annually in the country.

Indonesia has 4.5 million drug addicts who need rehabilitation. Some 1.2 million drug addicts are in such a dire condition that rehabilitation is no longer an option for them.

"There are 64 (drug-related) inmates who are on death row. They have sought clemency, but we have rejected all, despite pressures from all quarters," he said in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, last month. (WDY)