Death by Firing Squad: Indonesia to Execute 6 Drug Smugglers at Midnight

Jan 17, 2015 04:13 AM EST

(Photo : Reuters) Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira talks behind the bars of a holding cell at Tangerang court, near Jakarta on June 8, 2004. An Indonesian court sentenced Moreira to death on Tuesday after convicting him of trying to smuggle 13.4 kilograms (29.5 pounds) of cocaine into the country in his hang-glider. REUTERS/Beawiharta BEA/TW

Jakarta will push through with the scheduled execution of six drug smugglers on Saturday midnight, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said. He assured that ending the life of the six by firing squad - five foreigners and a local woman - would not affect Jakarta's ties with foreign governments.

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Not even a call from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff convinced Widodo to stay the executions of former pilot Marco Moreira of Brazil, said Tony Spontana, spokesman of the Attorney General's Office.

Besides the Moreira, scheduled for execution are Namaoana Denis of Malawi, Ang Kiem Soei of The Netherlands, Daniel Enemuo of Nigeria, Tran Thi Bich Hang of Vietnam and Rani Andriani, an Indonesian. The six have been convicted of drug charges between 2000 and 2011.

Five of them are in isolation cells at the Nuskambangan island prison, while the Vietnamese woman is in Boyolali. Both jails are in Central Java Province.

In turning down Rousseff's personal phone call, Widodo told her that the sentence of Moreira can't be commuted because it was the result of judicial proceedings based on Indonesian laws, and the former pilot was accorded due process.

"What we do is merely aimed at protecting our nation from the danger of drugs. There is no excuse for drug dealers and hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect," ABC quotes Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo.

He hoped the six would accept that this is the end of the line for them with "calmness in their hearts."

Like Rousseff, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders is pull all strings to stop Kiem Soei's execution, while Amnesty International thinks Indonesia is reneging on its promise to improve respect human rights by going ahead with the execution.

The six are among the 138 people on death row; one-third are foreigners. Most of them are for drug-related crimes.

Despite the pressure from the international front, Indonesia is determined to stop drug smuggling and abuse that the others is the death row are moving heaven and earth to acquire clemency such as Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, with the Mercy Campaign gathering signatures online. The group has now over 25,000 names.