60 More Drug Convicts on Death Row

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Head of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) Anang Iskandar said there are some 60 more death row drug convicts awaiting execution.

"There are approximately 60 drug convicts who have been sentenced to death but have yet to be executed," Anang stated during a press conference at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Wednesday.

Following the execution of eight drug convicts on Wednesday morning, the BNNs chief noted that the 60 convicts on death row will be executed in the next batches.

Anang added that the Indonesian Government has carried out the death sentence of the eight convicts as part of law enforcement. Consistent law enforcement is needed to create a deterrent effect.

He added that the death penalty has been stipulated in Law No. 35/2009 on Narcotics. "All the death row convicts had been tried in court," Anang remarked.

Anang cited that a government program to save drug users intends to rehabilitate 100 thousand users in 2015.

Indonesia has so far carried out two operations to execute drug convicts who were handed down final and binding death sentences by a court.

Five foreigners from Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil, and the Netherlands were executed in January 2015, while on Wednesday morning (April 28, 2015), eight death row drug convicts were executed; one convict was spared.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has declared strict law enforcement to combat drugs. Widodos predecessor had also been concerned over the wide distribution of drugs that had been destroying the nations youth.(WDY)