Indonesia executes 8 drug convicts, Filipina Mary Jane Velosa spared at last minute
Marites Veloso, sister of drug trafficking inmate Mary Jane Veloso, cries during a protest pleading President Benigno Aquino for help in her sister's case, in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Manila on April 7. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
CILACAP, Indonesia - Indonesia early Wednesday executed eight prisoners - seven of them foreigners including two Australians - but spared the life of Filipina Mary Jane Velosa at the 11th hour, local media reported.
Metro TV and the Jakarta Post reported that the convicts, who also included a Brazilian, four Africans and one Indonesian, were put to death by firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan near Cilacap in Central Java, MetroTV and the Jakarta Post newspaper reported.
One of those executed asked to sit down before being executed, reports said; the condemned are given the choice of standing, sitting or kneeling.
Indonesia carried out the death sentences in the face of intense international pressure from foreign governments.
"We've carried out the executions," said an Attorney General's Office (AGO) official, talking to the press on condition of anonymity, the Jakarta Post reported.
Suhendro Putro, funeral director with the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) in Cilacap, said in a messages that the executions were carried out at 12:30 am (1.30 am Singapore time).
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Martin Anderson, reportedly from Ghana, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, Indonesian Zainal Abidin, and three Nigerians - Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze - were all executed by firing squad.
The execution of Veloso of the Philippines was reportedly delayed after a woman who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave herself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday.
The Jakarta Post reported that the AGO spokesman, Tony Spontana, said Indonesia had agreed to the final requests fielded by two Australian death-row convicts for their bodies to be flown to Australia for burial.
A Cilacap Police officer prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion, the Post said.
"The executions went well, without any disruptions," he said.
The news comes four months after Indonesia executed six convicts, one each from the Netherlands, Brazil, Nigeria, Malawi, Vietnam, and Indosia by firing squad on Jan 18.
In the hours before the convicts were put to death, there was a flurry of activity as ambulances carried coffins to the island, and relatives made final anguished visits to their loved ones.
Relatives of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the Australian ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" heroin trafficking group, wailed in grief as they headed to the island, and one relative collapsed amid a huge scrum of journalists.
"I am asking the government not to kill him. Call off the execution. Please don't take my son," said Sukumaran's mother Raji, in a tearful plea after visiting him, AFP reported.
Chan, who like Sukumaran is in his 30s, married his Indonesian girlfriend in a jailhouse ceremony with family and friends on Nusakambangan on Monday, his final wish.
The news of the temporary reprieve for Veloso, who claims she was duped into smuggling drugs into Indonesia by international drugs syndicates, comes after a huge campaign to save her in the Philippines. President Benigno Aquino had urged Widodo on the sidelines of a summit this week to grant her clemency, AFP noted.
Australia also mounted a sustained campaign to save its citizens, who have been on death row for almost a decade. Ahead of the executions, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Tuesday criticised Indonesia's "chaotic" handling of the execution arrangements.
The families "do deserve respect and they do deserve to have dignity shown to them at this time of unspeakable grief", she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
In Sydney late Tuesday about 300 supporters of the Australian pair held a vigil, with several people displaying signs calling for the Indonesian president to show mercy.
The execution of the Brazilian convict, Rodrigo Gularte, sparked criticism in his homeland, with his family saying he should not face the firing squad as he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
A Frenchman was originally among the group set to be executed but was granted a temporary reprieve after authorities agreed to allow an outstanding legal appeal to run its course.
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