Indonesia unlikely to execute drug convicts for weeks or months – VP Kalla

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia is not likely to execute a group of death row convicts, mostly foreigners, for weeks or even months, until its courts decide on their last-minute legal ap- peals, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told Reuters on Wednesday.

Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap.

Five foreigners were among six people executed last month, the first executions since President Joko Widodo took office in October.

Tensions have flared between Indonesia and countries like Australia and Brazil, whose citizens are among 10 drug offenders due to face the firing squad.

Widodo has pledged no mercy for drug offenders, saying Indonesia faces a “drug emergency”. The country is a major destination for drugs trafficked in the region.

Kalla said Indonesia was more cautious in handling the legal appeals following diplomatic efforts to save the prisoners.

“We will always hear and consider opinions not only from Australia but also France and Brazil,” Kalla said in an interview. “That is why we are very careful in ... following the process of the law.”

He said, “We’re waiting for the decision of the courts,” adding that it could take “weeks or maybe months”.

Four death row inmates have appealed against their sentences after Widodo rejected their clemency pleas late last year.

Reduced penalty

The case of the Filipina drug convict has been elevated to the Supreme Court on the argument that the translator at the time of the proceeding before the district court was only a student and was not qualified at that time.

Charles Jose, the spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the translator “should have been a court appointed translator.”

“That might have had an impact on the proceedings that happened before in relation to the accuracy of the translation,” Jose added.

Jose explained that the Indonesian high court already affirmed the guilt of the Filipina and the judicial review will determine is whether the death penalty will be reduced to life imprisonment.

The Filipina who is a mother of two was arrested by Indonesian authorities in Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on April 2010 with 2,611 grams of heroin in her possession.

In October 2010, the Sleman District Court found her guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced her to death by firing squad. Australia has made repeated calls for mercy on behalf of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, but Widodo has refused to budge, turning down an offer of a one- off prisoner exchange and to have the Australian government bear the cost of the convicts serving life sentences.

Kalla said relations with Brazil had been harmed and Indonesia was now reviewing all its military contracts with Latin America’s largest economy.

“We’re not reviewing contracts with other countries because Australia and the Netherlands, they did not harm our diplomatic situation, like Brazil,” he said, referring to Brazil’s refusal to let Indonesia’s envoy take part in a credentials ceremony.

Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors in January after Indonesia executed their citizens among a group of six for drug offences.

A second Brazilian national is among a second group of 11 prisoners due to be executed soon in Indonesia. Rodrigo Gularte’s family has pleaded for clemency on the grounds of mental illness.

Others facing imminent execution on the prison island of Nusakambangan include citizens of France, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria and Indonesia. (With a report from