Jakarta Globe, Stefy Tenu, Jan 16, 2015
Semarang, Central Java. When convicted drug trafficker Tran Thi Bich Hahn, 37, was told she would be one of six inmates scheduled to face a firing squad on Sunday, she only had one wish: to be executed in her home country of Vietnam.
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| A picture of Tran Thi Bich Hanh, a Vietnamese national sentenced to death, is held up. (Antara Photo/R. Rekotomo) |
Semarang, Central Java. When convicted drug trafficker Tran Thi Bich Hahn, 37, was told she would be one of six inmates scheduled to face a firing squad on Sunday, she only had one wish: to be executed in her home country of Vietnam.
Shinta
Ardhani had no idea the woman she knew as Asien and who had become a close
friend was among those to be shot dead by the Indonesian government for
attempting to traffic narcotics into the country.
“I
immediately cried when I found out that Asien would be executed. I only know
her by her nickname. I didn’t know her full name,” Shinta said.
A reporter
for a local radio station, the 35-year-old first met Asien in March 2013 when
she was asked to host an event at the Bulu Women’s Penitentiary in Semarang,
where the Vietnam national is now awaiting execution, scheduled for Sunday.
Shinta said
the two immediately bonded over stories of their mutual trade; Asien said she,
too, was a reporter, having worked for five years at a finance magazine.
“[Asien]
likes to tell me about what she has been doing in prison. She really likes to
sew; make flower bouquets and such,” Shinta explained.
Duped?
She
recalled how Asien had finally revealed her side of the events that ultimately
led to her incarceration. The Vietnamese claimed she had been duped by a drug
syndicate to transport a suitcase into Indonesia for a fee of $6,000.
It was
later revealed that the suitcase contained nearly $200,000 worth of
methamphetamine.
Asien was
arrested by customs officials at the Adi Soemarmo airport in Solo, Central
Java, after disembarking from an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur.
Despite the
more lenient life sentence sought by prosecutors, the Boyolali District Court
in Central Java handed her the death penalty after discovering Asien had
successfully smuggled narcotics into the country eight times previously; the
day of her arrest had been her ninth attempt.
Asien has
since exhausted her legal options, including for a presidential pardon.
Rights
activists
In a
controversial move, President Joko Widodo last month announced he would not
grant clemency to at least 64 individuals who had been sentenced to death for
drug-related crimes. Joko argued the extreme measure was necessary to combat
the production and distribution of drugs in Indonesia.
The
government has also pledged to execute as many as 20 people each year, despite
media scrutiny and criticism from human rights groups.
“These
executions must be stopped immediately. The death penalty is a human rights
violation and it is shocking that the Indonesian authorities are looking to put
to death six people this Sunday,” said Rupert Abbott, global rights
organization Amnesty International’s research director for Southeast Asia and
the Pacific.
“Indonesia’s
new government took office on the back of promises to improve respect for human
rights, but carrying out these executions would be a regressive move,” he
added.
Human
Rights Watch said the planned executions came at a time when the government was
actively seeking to protect Indonesian nationals who faced the death penalty
overseas. It says Indonesia has shown “hypocrisy on the right to life.”
Boyolali
and Nusakambangan
Asien is
scheduled to be executed in Boyolali, while five other prisoners convicted of
drug offenses will reportedly face the firing squad on the island prison of
Nusakambangan.
Ahmad
Kudhori, the Boyolali prison chief warden, said Asien was technically one of
his inmates but was transferred to the city of Semarang because the district
lacked a prison facility for women.
“We have
not yet received any instructions [to execute Asien],” Ahmad said. “But we are
ready to carry out such orders,” he added.
A second
woman to be executed on Sunday is Indonesian Rani Andriani, also known as
Melisa Aprilia.
The four
other condemned are male foreign nationals: Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Ang Kim
Soei (Dutch), Namaona Denis (Malawian) and Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira
(Brazilian).
European
condemnation
Federica
Mogherini, the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and
security policy, released a statement on Thursday condemning the planned
executions, calling the move “deeply regrettable.”
“The EU is
opposed to capital punishment in all cases and without exception, and has
consistently called for its universal abolition,” the statement said. “The
death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a
deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and
integrity.”
Meanwhile,
Dutch media were reporting on Friday that the nation’s foreign minister, Bert
Koenders, had said the execution of the Dutch national could harm relations
with Indonesia.
“At the
international level we are trying everything to make sure the executions do not
take place,” the minister was quoted as saying by newsportal Nu.nl.
Koenders
did not want to say what kind of consequences the execution of the Dutch drug
convict could have, but did say that he had discussed the matter with Foreign
Minister Retno Marsudi, who was Indonesia’s ambassador to the Netherlands
before joining Joko’s cabinet.
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