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  1. #1
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    Indonesia

    Indonesia's top court last hope for former Dunedin man on death row

    Of the Dunedin High class of '82, it was Richard Kniehase who first learned about his old buddy Frank Amado. They had stayed in touch since high school, resorting to e-mailing every few months when Amado moved to Washington state in 2004 and then on to Thailand and Indonesia a few years later.

    Most of Amado's e-mails were about how much he liked the laid-back lifestyle in Southeast Asia. He wrote about tuk-tuks and elephants on the roads. About selling real estate and teaching English and still having time for long lunches of spicy food and evenings out with new friends.

    "What I love more than anything about living in Asia," he wrote, "is that whenever you leave your apartment there is always an adventure waiting for you."

    When he married, he sent Kniehase photos of his wife. When they opened a cyber cafe in Bangkok, he sent more photos. And, when things went belly up, he wrote about losing the business, the failed real estate market and his divorce. When he visited Jakarta, Indonesia, he sent pictures of his new girlfriend and said he was looking for work. He was hopeful he could support himself, he said.

    In October 2009, Kniehase noticed the e-mails changed dramatically, becoming brief questions, like: "Hey buddy. How's it going?"

    When Kniehase wrote back asking Amado what he was up to, Amado threw the question back at him.

    A year later, Amado sent a vague e-mail about being in trouble: "I'm in a heck of a position. Some day I'll tell you about it."

    Sitting at his dining room table in Ocala with a Gators football game on TV, Kniehase Googled "Frank Amado" on his laptop.

    "When I saw what came up, I nearly fell out of my chair," he said.

    In front of him was a photo of his friend in handcuffs and this headline: "American Sentenced to Death."

    His heart pounding, Kniehase scanned the story. In October 2009, it said, Amado was arrested getting into a cab in Jakarta with about a pound of crystal meth. In his apartment, police found 11 more pounds. Amado confessed to storing the drug in his South Jakarta apartment and also to taking some to a distributor.

    According to the article, he was the only American ever on death row in Indonesia.

    Kniehase was dumbfounded. Apparently his old pal had managed to get a computer in his prison cell and had been e-mailing him for a year without mentioning his arrest or conviction, much less his death sentence.

    The next night, Kniehase e-mailed Amado: "I've read about you. How are you going to get out of this mess?"

    Amado wrote back: "I don't know."

    • • •

    After his arrest, Frank Amado's mother, Ingrid Amado, 75, hired a cousin in North Carolina who was a lawyer. He found a defense attorney in Jakarta, and Amado's mother sent $37,500 — most of her savings — to pay the lawyers' fees. But before the trial, most of the money was gone and Frank fired the attorneys because he felt almost nothing had been done to help him defend himself.

    The North Carolina lawyer wouldn't talk about what happened. But the Jakarta attorney said he was dismissed from the case before the trial. That lawyer, Frans Winarta, said "attorney client confidentiality" prevented him from giving details.

    "The whole thing makes me sick," said Ingrid Amado, who is at her winter home in Ozona.

    At the trial, the judge said he had no choice but to find Amado guilty and give him the death penalty.

    "There was nothing that could lighten the defendant's sentence," said Judge Dehel Sandan.

    Frank's sister, Monique Amado, 44, turned to Amnesty International for help, but came up empty-handed because the human rights organization, while opposed to the death penalty everywhere, wouldn't get involved.

    "We are aware of Frank Amado's case, but we don't track jailed U.S. citizens unless it's a human rights abuse," said Suzanne Trimel, U.S. spokeswoman for Amnesty International.

    The Indonesian human rights organization KontraS also looked at the 47-year-old's case, but a director said it couldn't take a death penalty case of anyone involved in the drug trade, no matter how low level.

    "We can't help. The U.S. government needs to intervene on his behalf," said Papang Hidayat, KontraS research director.

    But the U.S. government refuses. Aside from sending someone to visit him every three months to see if he is in reasonably good health and not being tortured, the U.S. State Department says it will have nothing to do with Amado's case.

    "The facts are out there. He has admitted to the facts. According to local statutes the crime is punishable by death, and, unfortunately, we see nothing irregular in the case," said Paul Belmont, press attache for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

    The United States can't ask for preferential treatment for an American, said Belmont, who described Amado as "an American citizen with financial problems who was talked into doing this work for quick cash."

    But, said the attache, he doesn't know if Amado will get due process because of the reputation the system has for corruption. From a 2010 U.S. State Department report: "Corruption in Indonesia is an on-going challenge to the rule of law."

    "But the corruption is not on the surface and we don't take it on," said Belmont.

    Amado's boss in the drug ring, who bought the drugs and told Amado to hold them and where to take them, got a 15-year sentence instead of the death penalty.

    "A prosecutor told me $50,000 would get me a 15-year sentence, but I didn't have it," Amado said.

    He didn't ask friends for help, he said, because he didn't want them to know where he was and why.

    "I was too ashamed," he said.

    When the drug dealer told him he would only get a few months in jail if he got caught, he signed on because he had completely run out of money and was desperate.

    "I did wrong and I accept responsibility," he said. "But the death penalty?"

    Paul Belmont: "It's not a pretty picture for Frank Amado."

    • • •

    In 1976, when Frank Amado (named after his grandfather and father) was 12, his father, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, retired. The family of four moved from Cape Cod to Dunedin, where they had vacationed. They loved the warmth, the beach, the sunsets. They got a sailboat and learned to scuba dive. In the summer, they visited Ingrid's family in Germany and his father's family in Portugal, and traveled around Europe.

    "Frank and his family were worldly, open-minded and well-mannered," said Dunedin High classmate Dave Miedema. "I was close to Frank into his mid 20s when his father died, and I can tell you Frank was a very nice person."

    While going to St. Petersburg College and the Tampa Technical Institute to become a graphic artist, Amado worked as a waiter and sold prepaid legal insurance.

    "He was always very entrepreneurial," said Miedema.

    Police records show that in 1985, at 21, Amado was arrested by Clearwater police for having a 12-inch marijuana plant in a pot on his back porch. A month later Tampa police arrested him for having a pistol in his car; the gun's serial number had been removed. He told police he bought the gun at a flea market on U.S. 19 after his car was broken into.

    He got probation for both convictions.

    "Youth and stupidity," he said.

    In 1990, he moved to Orlando, where he had two businesses — one designing Web pages and another refinishing stoves and refrigerators. He also sold Amway products and worked as a bartender at the Disney Contemporary Resort.

    "Even though Frank worked hard to make ends meet, he was always great fun to be around," said Donna Holloway, who worked with him at the Contemporary.

    In 2004, after his sister moved to Oregon and Holloway moved to California, Amado moved to Washington to be near them. He struggled at first, living hand-to-mouth. But after a year, he landed Web design contracts with Microsoft and Boeing, rented a nicer apartment and bought a used Lexus. He vacationed in the Philippines and Thailand.

    "I was so thankful to be finally making it," he said.

    In Thailand, he fell in love and moved there in late 2006 to marry and start a cyber cafe.

    "I thought for sure I'd be successful at making a great life for myself there, but, boy, was I wrong," he said in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times.

    • • •

    In early January, he lost his appeal. But he can still appeal to the Supreme Court of Indonesia for a change in sentence.

    "He'll need a really good lawyer to change things at that stage," said Hidayat from KontraS.

    If that doesn't happen, a guard will come to his cell and tell him he has 72 hours left to live.

    Witnesses to Indonesian executions have described what's next.

    Before daylight, he will be driven to a deserted stretch of beach wearing white pants and a white collarless shirt with a red cross over his heart. A black hood will be placed over his head.

    As the sun comes up, his hands and feet will be tied to a wooden pole and about a dozen police officers will aim at his heart. Half of them will have blanks in their guns, the other half bullets.

    His mother and sister will be notified to claim the body.

    http://www.tampabay.com/features/hum...cle1150991.ece

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    Dropped charges spare life of Bashir

    ABU Bakar Bashir has escaped the death penalty in relation to the discovery of a terrorist cell and paramilitary training camp after prosecutors dropped two key charges against the radical Muslim cleric.

    Bashir was in typically inflammatory form before his appearance at South Jakarta District Court, hailing slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

    ''For Osama, by Allah's will he now lives in heaven and he receives great honour for he is a great warrior,'' Bashir said. ''He has made a great sacrifice.''

    In delivering their sentence request yesterday, prosecutors conceded they had failed to prove all elements of the primary charge of trafficking in explosives and/or weapons for use in planning or inciting a terrorist act.

    But the 72-year-old, who many suspect of being behind the 2002 Bali bombings, could still spend the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty of raising funds for the camp, found last year in a mountainous jungle area in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

    They also failed to prove a secondary charge of using violence or threats of violence for the purpose of conducting terrorism.

    Both charges, which carry a maximum penalty of death, were therefore dropped.

    Prosecutors maintained there was enough evidence, collected from a number of his former allies, to prove that he was involved in raising funds for the camp, and the cell known as Takjim al-Qaeda Serambi Mekah.

    It's believed the group was planning to carry out attacks with suicide squads targeting Westerners, political leaders and police in Indonesia.

    While the remaining charge also carries the death penalty, prosecutors instead opted for a life sentence, citing the accused's age.

    Prosecutors said that the evidence presented during the trial showed Bashir was clearly at the centre of fund-raising efforts.

    http://www.theage.com.au/world/dropp...#ixzz1LtndoxJK

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    Indonesia to Execute Two Foreigners on Death Row in July '12

    Purwokerto. Two foreigners found guilty of smuggling heroin into Indonesia are expected to be executed by a firing squad in the coming months.

    The two death row inmates, currently housed at Nusakambangan Island penitentiary, Cilacap, are Namaona Denis from Malawi and Muhammad Abdul Hafez from Pakistan.

    Namaona Denis was sentenced to death after being convicted of smuggling one kilogram of heroin, while Mohammed Abdul Hafez was convicted of smuggling 900 grams of heroin.

    Both foreign nationals were tried and sentenced by the Tangerang District Court in 2001.

    It has been rumored that the two inmates will be executed in July 2012 because Tangerang prosecutors have coordinated with the embassies of the countries of origin of the prisoners. The police will serve as the executioners.

    Djaja Subagya, head of the Tangerang prosecutor’s office, confirmed the execution plan.

    “Both of them have tried some legal efforts [to escape] the death sentence, such as appeal, review and clemency, but all have been rejected,” Djaja said as quoted by indopos.com. “Because they have been rejected, we’re going to execute them.”

    Djaja said he would send official letters to Nusakambangan penitentiary, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, the Central Java police and embassies of countries where the prisoners are from.

    “The execution process is long and should not be done carelessly,” he said.

    Djaja also said the prisoners might want to send their last messages to their families.

    “Last messages such as where they want to be buried,” he said.

    http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lawan...ow-soon/524478
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    Indonesia: Banten court sentences British man to death

    Banten High Court has sentenced British citizen Gareth Dane Cashmore with the death penalty after he was found guilty of smuggling 6.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.

    The panel of judges decided, on May 15, to annul the Tangerang District Court verdict sentencing him to lifetime imprisonment. A copy of the verdict was published on the Supreme Court’s website on Wednesday.

    “Gareth Dane Cashmore is found guilty of violating the law by receiving narcotics of more than five milligrams,” presiding judge J. Nababan said. “We decided to sentence the defendant to death.”

    The panel of judges said that the decision was based on considerations that the sentence of lifetime imprisonment imposed, by the district court, would not send a strong enough message.

    In addition, the judges also took in to consideration that there were no mitigating factors uncovered during the trial that could lessen the defendant’s sentence, and that he was fully responsible for his actions.

    “Narcotics are a very dangerous substance that harm the people and the nation. They destroy the human resources that are one of the integral elements to our national development,” the judge said.

    The court also ordered that the 6.5-kilogram bag of crystal methamphetamine, one piece of red luggage, one Nokia cellular phone and one Samsung cellular phone, which belonged to the defendant, to be seized and destroyed.

    The 33-year-old British man was arrested by customs and excise officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sept. 12 last year for smuggling the crystal methamphetamine, worth Rp 13 billion (US$ 1.3 million). The drugs were concealed inside his modified luggage.

    It was alleged that Gareth was a member of an international narcotics syndicate who entered the capital by flying with Turkish Airlines by way of the Istanbul to Jakarta route.

    Following the arrest, together with the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the customs and excise officers attempted to apprehend the drugs couriers at a hotel in Jakarta, but to no avail.

    According to customs and excise at Soekarno-Hatta, 38 smugglers were caught as couriers in 2011, with many organized narcotic smuggling gangs, which used to “employ” Asian and African nationals, now using couriers from Europe.

    http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/
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    Indonesia Announces Plans for First Executions in 4 Years

    The Attorney General’s Office plans to execute 10 convicted felons in 2013 in Indonesia’s first wave of executions in four years.

    Indonesian courts sentenced 113 people to death in 2012, but there has been no execution since 2008. In recent years, the public, as well as prominent politicians like President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have expressed an aversion to the death penalty.

    But in this year alone, 60 murderers, 51 drug convicts and two convicted terrorists were sentenced to death.

    The AGO planned to execute an inmate in 2012, but was hampered by delays, Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes Mahfud Mannan said at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

    “I scheduled to execute a convict this year, but it has been delayed as we’re still coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights about the place [for the execution],” Mahfud said. “We’re targeting to execute 10 people next year.”

    The AGO declined to list the 10 convicts scheduled for execution next year or what crimes they had committed.

    Yudhoyono recently spoke out against the death penalty, saying that Indonesia was moving against a global push to end capital punishment.

    “We must not wrongly punish people,” Yudhoyono said after commuting a death sentence for a convicted drug trafficker to life in prison in October. The move later garnered criticism after the convict, Meirika Franola, was caught allegedly running a drug ring behind bars. Yudhoyono said later that he would review the sentence.

    The AGO’s plan also drew strong opposition from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said capital punishment needs to be eradicated.

    “Restorative principles are far more favorable and more efficient in this modern era, rather than capital punishment,” says Haris, referring to a system that allows a convict to become a better citizen.

    http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lawan...4-years/563657
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  6. #6
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    A grandmother from Teesside vows to appeal after she is given the death penalty for smuggling cocaine in her luggage.


    Bali: Death Penalty For British Drug Smuggler

    British woman Lindsay Sandiford has been sentenced to death for drug smuggling on the Indonesian island of Bali.

    The 56-year-old grandmother, originally from Redcar, Teesside, had been found guilty of violating the country's strict drug laws.

    Sandiford was arrested in May 2012 at Bali airport when customs officers found 3.8kg of cocaine worth £1.6m in her luggage. She claimed she had been forced to smuggle the drugs into Bali from Thailand by a criminal gang.

    Prosecutors announced in December that they would be recommending a 15-year prison sentence, after she agreed to co-operate in a sting operation in which police swooped on four other suspects alleged to be her accomplices, including Britons Rachel Dougall, Julian Pounder and Paul Beales.

    Pounder is accused of receiving the drugs in Bali, where cocaine and ecstasy are often bought and sold between foreign nationals. A verdict is expected in his trial on Wednesday.

    Delivering Sandiford's verdict, a judge panel headed by Mr Amser Simanjuntak said that Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government's programme of drug annihilation.

    "We find Lindsay Sandiford convincingly and legally guilty of importing narcotics. We found no reason to lighten her sentence," said Mr Simanjuntak.

    In her witness statement, Sandiford said: "I would like to begin by apologising to the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people for my involvement.

    "I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them."

    Local journalist Amelia Rose was in court when Sandiford was sentenced.

    "She was in shock, but she managed to hold her composure and stand up while the judge read out her sentence," she said.

    "Her eyes turned red from tears for a second but she managed to hold her composure again.

    "There is still a long way to go before an execution can take place. She can appeal to the High Court then the Supreme Court in Jakarta. If she can present new evidence she can have a judicial review.

    "Then there is also the chance of clemency with the President."

    Sandiford's defence lawyer, Esra Karo-Karo, said: "She was very shocked. This is unpredicted, she never thought of receiving the death penalty.

    "The judge did not even consider our reason for leniency as we proposed in our defence. We will appeal."

    A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We can confirm that a British national is facing the death penalty in Indonesia.

    "We remain in close contact with that national and continue to provide consular assistance and the UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

    "We will intervene at whatever stage and level is judged appropriate and will use high-level political lobbying when necessary".

    Dougall, whose young daughter is reportedly being cared for by their maid and gardener on the island, has claimed she was the victim of a "fit-up".

    Reprieve, a charity which seeks to enforce human rights for prisoners, said Sandiford was targeted by drug traffickers.Spokeswoman Harriet McCulloch said: "Lindsay was targeted by drug traffickers who exploited her vulnerability and made threats against her children.

    "Following her arrest, she was interrogated by the Indonesian police without a translator, legal representation or the assistance of the British Embassy for 10 days.

    A statement by Dr Jennifer Fleetwood, an expert on the coercion of women in the international drug trade, was also read out, which suggested that Sandiford's "vulnerability" would have made her an ideal target for drugs traffickers.

    "There is evidence to suggest that a trafficker would seek someone who was vulnerable. Having reviewed extracts from Lindsay's medical records I know that Lindsay has a history of mental health issues.

    "This may have unfortunately made her an attractive target for threats, manipulation and coercion by one or more parties over a period of time, which led to her being stopped at Ngurah Rai International Airport".

    At the end of 2011 there were 13 British nationals sentenced to death and awaiting execution, and approximately 40 British prisoners facing charges that may attract the death penalty.

    Indonesia has 114 prisoners on death row, according to a March 2012 study by Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy. Five foreigners have been executed since 1998, all for drug crimes, according to the institute.

    President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has granted clemency to four drug offenders on death row since he took office in 2004.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1041142/ba...-drug-smuggler

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    Indonesia to carry out executions this year

    Indonesia is set to execute some convicts on death row for murder and drugs offences in 2013 after not carrying out an execution for several years, a senior official said Saturday.

    There are 17 convicts, among them foreigners, who "can be executed starting from this year as they have exhausted all legal avenues for appeal," Mahfud Mannan, the deputy attorney general for criminal cases, told AFP.

    He did not reveal their identities or say when executions might take place. "Not all will be executed this year but what's certain is there will be executions this year," he added.

    But no one on death row in the prison on the resort island of Bali, where some foreigners are jailed, would be executed this year as they are all pursuing legal challenges, Mannan said.

    This includes a British grandmother sentenced to death last month for cocaine smuggling, who is pursuing an appeal that could take years, and two Australians convicted of attempted drug smuggling.

    The last prominent executions in Indonesia were in 2008 when three Islamic militants convicted over the 2002 bombings in Bali which killed 202 people, including many foreign tourists, were put to death.

    Mannan told AFP that he did not know precisely when Indonesia had last carried out an execution but said it had not been for several years.

    Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, two Australians on death row for attempting to smuggle heroin to Australia from Bali lodged appeals for clemency with the president last year, but have yet to receive a response.

    British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, 56, was sentenced to death last month for smuggling nearly 5.0 kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine worth $2.4 million onto Bali.

    In Indonesia there are 111 people on death row, of whom 60 are Indonesians convicted for premeditated murder, two for terrorism and 49 other people convicted for drugs offences, most of whom are foreigners, Mannan said.
    Under Indonesian law, execution is conducted by a firing squad.

    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...ons-this-year/
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    Indonesia Executes First Convict in Four Years

    A Nigerian drug dealer was executed by firing squad on Thursday night in Indonesia's first execution of a convicted felon since 2008.

    “Last night, Adami Wilson was executed, [he was] a drug dealer,” Indonesia's Attorney General Basrief Arief said on Friday. “The [execution] place was around the Thousand Islands.”

    Basrief said that the Attorney General's Office (AGO) planned to execute nine more convicts this year.

    Despite Indonesian courts sentencing 113 people to death in 2012, the government has mulled over commuting death sentences as part of a wider push to move away from capital punishment. Three Islamic militants involved in the 2002 Bali bombings were the last convicts to be executed in Indonesia in November 2008.

    Adami, 48, was sentenced to death in 2004 for smuggling 1 kilogram of heroin by the Tangerang District Court, according to reports in Majalah Detik. He filed an appeal the same year, but it was declined.

    In prison, Adami ran a drug distribution ring in an attempt to earn enough money to buy his way off death row, he told the magazine. He had heard from other convicts that inmates could bribe their way to a life sentence for Rp 1 billion ($103,050).

    In September of last year, Adami was temporarily admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment. The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) re-arrested Adami after they caught one of his couriers carrying drugs.

    Adami was executed Thursday night as the first of 10 scheduled executions to be held this year.

    His embassy told the Jakarta Globe that police failed to inform them of the execution of a Nigerian national.

    Yakubu Adamu, the first secretary of the Nigerian embassy in Indonesia, declined to offer additional details about their interaction with Adami.

    “We have protocols to follow and you will have to talk directly to the ambassador,” Yakubu said, adding that he still wanted to find out more information about the case before speaking with the press.

    Bilateral cooperation

    Indonesia and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding to fight drug trafficking between the two countries just last month, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa visited the country to meet their counterparts — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Foreign Minister Joy Ogwu.

    Insp. Gen. Anang Iskandar, head of the BNN, who was part of the president's entourage on the two-day visit in February, had said the cooperation included an information exchange on drug smuggling activities from Nigeria to Indonesia.

    “This MoU between Indonesia and Nigeria is very important. As we know, there are many Nigerians that [are] involved in the drug networks in Indonesia,” said Anang, as quoted by PresidenSBY.info.

    Anang, who said at least 13 Nigerians had been sentenced to death in Indonesia, explained that the Nigerian government had made no special request to reduce sentences or to extradite their citizens who had been arrested for drug-related crimes in Indonesia.

    But after their visit on Feb. 2, Nigeria's presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, tweeted several posts contradicting Anang's comment.

    “Pres. Jonathan requested for stay of execution of Nigerians on death row in Indonesia while both explore agreement on exchange of prisoners,” Reuben tweeted on his account @abati1990.

    “Both Presidents pledged to work together towards attaining a more balanced and mutually beneficial relatnship btw (sic) Nigeria and Indonesia.”

    Human rights

    A human rights organization told the Jakarta Globe that Adami's execution would not deter other drug-related offenders.

    “We need to uphold human rights instead of executing people who took the opportunity from the bad system that allows drug distribution in the country, as well as inside the jail,” said Bhatara Ibnu Reza, the operational director of human rights group Imparsial.

    “No pro-death sentence arguments can prove that the death penalty can successfully uphold the law, or have a deterrent effect.”

    Bhatara said that the death sentence as ultimate punishment would not result in a moral society, but would instead make the society embrace violence as the only punishment.

    “We will become a draconian society,” he said. “Indonesia surely will be condemned by other countries for this.”

    In a press conference last year, Marty said the policy of commuting a death sentence for a drug crime is not something that happens just in Indonesia.

    "This policy is also practiced in other countries, and Indonesians are among the beneficiaries of such clemency."

    Last year, Yudhoyono spoke out against the death penalty, saying that Indonesia was moving against a global push to end capital punishment.

    “We must not wrongly punish people,” Yudhoyono said after commuting a death sentence for a convicted drug trafficker to life in prison in October. The move later garnered criticism after the convict, Meirika Franola, was caught allegedly running a drug ring behind bars. Yudhoyono said later that he would review the sentence.

    According to data from the AGO, there are 20 inmates on death row in Indonesia whose sentences are final, meaning that all efforts to appeal or seek remission have been denied.

    http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lawan...r-years/579982
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    Bali court upholds death sentence for smuggling cocaine

    A British woman convicted of smuggling £1.6m worth of cocaine into Bali will be put to death, an Indonesian court has said, despite appeals for her life to be saved.

    The Bali high court spokesman announced on Monday that the court had upheld the death sentence, rejecting an appeal from Lindsay June Sandiford, 56. She was arrested for drug trafficking in May last year after local police said they found almost 4kg of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase. In January she was sentenced to face a firing squad by a district court. The spokesman said the verdict was decided last week and that Sandiford has 14 days to appeal to the national supreme court.

    If the appeal fails Sandiford could ask the president for clemency. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has granted clemency to four drug offenders on death row since taking office in 2004.

    Three other Britons were alleged to be involved in the same plot to smuggle drugs into Bali. Julian Ponder, 43, was jailed for six years in January and fined the equivalent of £65,000 after being convicted of cocaine possession in Bali.

    His lawyers said he was told Sandiford was delivering a present for his child's birthday and, when he met her to receive the gift, police officers arrested him. His partner, Rachel Dougall, 38, from Brighton, received a one-year jail sentence in the Denpasar district court last month. She had already been in jail for eight months awaiting trial and could be reunited with her daughter by April. The property developer Paul Beales, a long-time Bali resident, was also spared a harsh sentence when judges gave him four years for possession of a small amount of hashish.

    There were gasps of surprise in Denpasar district court when Sandiford's sentence was handed down in January; the prosecution had sought a 15-year prison term, not the death penalty, but the judge ruled that Sandiford's attempted crime had damaged Bali's image.

    In her witness statement during her trial, Sandiford expressed regret for her actions. "I would like to begin by apologising to the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people for my involvement. I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them," she said.

    During the trial, her lawyer read out a statement from her son that said: "I love my mother very much and have a very close relationship with her. I know that she would do anything to protect me. I cannot imagine what I would do if she was sentenced to death in relation to these charges."

    Indonesia has one of the strictest drug policies in the world, with about 40 foreigners on death row convicted of drug crimes, according to a March 2012 report by Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy.

    Five foreigners have been executed since 1998, all for drug crimes, according to the institute. There have been no executions in the country since 2008, when 10 people were put to death.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...dsay-sandiford
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #10
    Senior Member Member Diggler's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    This is a good article.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...st_read_module

    Moral of the story: Don't smuggle drugs and know how to bribe people.

    Diggler

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