DESPITE having drawn heavy condemnation from governments and human rights groups, Indonesia is gearing up for another round of executions, but the fate of the foreign death row inmates remains uncertain.
A police official said Indonesian authorities were preparing the location of the sentencing and the firing squad at Nusakambangan Island. This was taking place a year after foreign nationals were executed for drug-related offences.
“We have had a warning since last month to prepare the place,” Central Java provincial police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto told Reuters on Wednesday.
SEE ALSO: Indonesian president defends death penalty for drug offenses
“We carried out some rehabilitation of the location like painting and repairs because there will probably be more people who will be executed.”
Darmanto also said members of the firing squad were currently receiving training and counselling.
However, it was still uncertain how many would receive the death sentence in the impending round of executions and whether it involved any foreign nationals.
On April 29 last year, Indonesia executed seven foreigners and one Indonesian for drug crimes amid intense international pressure to stop the executions. Filipina mother-of-two Mary Jane Voloso, who was part of the group, was given a late reprieve.
Brothers of Australian death row prisoners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, from right, Michael Chan and Chintu Sukumaran talk to the media before heading to Nusakambangan Island. Pic: AP.
Among the eight were Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The other foreigners were three Nigerian men, one Ghanian and one Brazilian. Last year, 14 executions were carried out, inciting protests from the international community.
Veloso is also reported to be spared from the coming round of executions pending her testimony in a Filipino court against against Maria Kristina Sergio, who is accused of duping her into smuggling 2.6 kilogrammes of heroin into Indonesia, Coconuts Jakarta reported.
A British grandmother convicted of smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine into the resort island of Bali in 2012 is also among those currently on death row. 57-year-old Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced by a district court to face a firing squad after she was found guilty of the charges.
During the trial, she said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that threatened to hurt her children. She lost an appeal three months later after the Bali High Court upheld the lower court’s ruling.
An Indonesian police vehicle carries Australian death row prisoners, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran during their transfer at a prison in Bali, Indonesia. Pic: AP.
Last month, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his administration was firm on use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses, calling drug trafficking a “national emergency”.
According to a report published by Amenesty International last month, at least 367 executions were carried out in 12 Asia-Pacific countries. The figure was a huge increase on the 32 executions in nine countries recorded in 2014, almost exclusively due to the rise in Pakistan.
Meanwhile in Singapore, the family of a Malaysian man on death-row for killing a construction worker in a botched robbery attempt has launched a petition urging for clemency.
The petition comes after the 31-year-old Kho Jabing exhausted all legal avenues following an appeal by prosecutors to overturn the 2013 sentence to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane last year.
Last month, the appeals court in Singapore threw out his 11th-hour bid to quash the death sentence.
Kho and his friend reportedly killed Chinese national Cao Ruyin during a robbery attempt in Geylang Drive in 2010.
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