Indonesia Defies Protests, Executes 4 by Firing Squad

3 foreigners, Indonesian man executed
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 29, 2016 1:29 AM CDT
Indonesia Defies Protests, Executes 4
Candles arranged around a poster containing the names of death row inmates who are facing imminent executions.   (Dita Alangkara)

Indonesia executed four people convicted of drug crimes on Friday despite international protests and said it would decide later when as many as 10 others are put to death. The men were executed by firing squad not long after midnight local time as torrential rains hit the Nusa Kambangan prison island where the death row inmates were held, the AP reports. The government had said earlier in the week that 14 people on death row, mostly foreigners, would be executed for drug crimes. Those executed were Indonesian Freddy Budiman and Nigerians Seck Osmane, Michael Titus, and Humphrey Jefferson. Lawyers and rights groups had raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the conviction of Jefferson, who had been in prison for more than a decade.

Relatives, rights groups, and foreign governments had urged Indonesia to spare all 14 lives, but it was unclear whether that had any influence on the decision to not carry out all the executions at once. This was the third set of executions under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who was elected in 2014 and campaigned on promises to improve human rights in Indonesia. Last year, his government executed 14 people convicted of drug crimes, mostly foreigners, sparking a huge outcry abroad and particularly in Australia, which had two citizens among those condemned. (Eight inmates refused blindfolds and sang hymns during a mass execution by firing squad in Indonesia last year.)

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