Headsets’ shock tactics spark troops
Indonesia rebuffed appeals from the United Nations human rights chief and the European Union to abandon plans to execute 14 people for drug crimes as preparations intensified yesterday at the prison island where the death row inmates are held.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the UN Human Rights Office was ‘‘deeply concerned’’ by death penalty cases that lack transparency and compliance with the right to receive a fair trial, including the right to an appeal. He called on the government of President Joko Widodo to impose an immediate moratorium on executions.
The EU said the death penalty was an unacceptable denial of human dignity and called on Indonesia to ‘‘consider joining the wide community of over 140 states that have abolished the death penalty entirely or have adopted a moratorium’’.
Ambulances arrived yesterday at the port town of Cilacap near the Nusa Kambangan prison island, where the executions of the mostly foreign drug convicts will be carried out by firing squads. Officials began tightening security at the prison several days ago, with more than 1000 police sent to Cilacap and the island.
Indonesia has not released an official list of those to be executed but the attorney-general on Wednesday said 14 people would be executed. Community Legal Aid Institute, which is involved in some of the death row cases, has circulated the names of 14 people – four Indonesians, six Nigerians, two Zimbabweans, one Indian and one Pakistani. Previously, the attorney-general’s office said it had budgeted for up to 16 executions this year.
Muhammad Rum, a spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney-general, said the executions were the ‘‘implementation of our positive laws’’ and would not be delayed or stopped. All the cases had gone through a long legal process, including appeals.
It would be the third set of executions under Widodo, who campaigned on promises to improve human rights in Indonesia. His twoyear-old administration will have executed more people than were executed in the previous decade if the government sticks to its plans.
‘‘The increasing use of the death penalty in Indonesia is terribly worrying and I urge the government to end this practice, which is unjust and incompatible with human rights,’’ Zeid said.
Lawyers and rights groups have raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the convictions in several of the death row drug cases, including that of Pakistani Zulfikar Ali, Indonesian Merri Utami and Nigerian Humphrey Jefferson.
From Lahore, Ali’s sister Humaira Bibi made an emotional appeal to the Indonesian government to spare the life of her ailing brother.
Justice Project Pakistan, a group that provides free legal representation, said Pakistani diplomats were trying to save Ali’s life.
It said Indonesian police used violent duress to obtain a confession from Ali, who was arrested in November 2004. Britain’s special forces are expected to follow their American counterparts and try out a headset designed to help elite troops stay stronger for longer.
In the Vietnam War, it was steroids and amphetamines that kept American troops ready for action.
Now it is Silicon Valley that has created a headset that sends energy pulses to the brain.
It is believed that the SAS and SBS will test the device. Both elite forces perform extended reconnaissance missions environments.
In the past, the Ministry of Defence has used Provigil, a drug, to help troops who need to stay alert despite a lack of sleep.
Ash Carter, the United States defence secretary, has said that he is keen to buy the headset, which is being used by American athletes training for the Olympics.
The headset emits electrical charges to help the brain to respond more effectively in sending signals to muscles, in a technique known as neuropriming. As a result, more muscle fibres are activated during training and the in hostile users gain strength more rapidly.
In training programmes using the technique, leg strength has been improved by up to 12 per cent in two weeks.
The Pentagon has launched a partnership with Halo Neuroscience, a company based in California that developed the headset, called Halo Sport.
The company was founded three years ago by doctors, neuroscientists and engineers, some of whom had treated stroke victims and patients with epilepsy.
They said that athletes, including the US Olympic skiing team, who had tried out the device had developed ‘‘more precise, more coordinated and explosive movement’’.
The electrical charges can shock the brain to help the athlete run faster or jump higher for longer. Normally, when an athlete gets tired, signals from the brain to the muscles operate at lower strength.
Carter said: ‘‘These headsets will be used by teams from our special operations forces who will work with Halo to gauge how effective their device might be in improving marksmanship, closequarters battle skills and overall strength training.’’