The Death Penalty of Indonesia

On Sunday morning, between midnight and 1am, six Brazilian, Dutch, Nigerian and Vietnamese men were executed by firing squad in Indonesia after being charged and convicted of drug trafficking crimes.

Indonesia has maintained a strong stance opposing drug related offences, suffering a wide spread and arduous battle against drug addiction as a nation.

This history with dangerous narcotics has ravaged Indonesia’s economic and social welfare, and has produced a nation carrying obvious bitterness towards the drug-producing west.

Many requests for mercy and extradition were made to the Indonesian governments by representative governments of each of the offenders in a desperate attempt to save their lives and hopefully have them prosecuted in their own countries. The Indonesian government denied such requests, asking that the international community “respect our laws”.

Such moves by Indonesia, choosing to prosecute offenders themselves rather than having them prosecuted in their home nations, have been seen not just as a stance against drug trafficking but also a stance against the attitude of the west toward smaller nations.

Julia Bishop, Australia’s Foreign Minister, has commented on the execution stating “the Australian government is opposed to the death penalty in all instances, which was a consistent position of all governments for years and we are opposed to a situation in which any Australian face the death penalty or be executed by another state”.

With two Australians currently on death row for drug related crimes as part of the now infamous “Bali nine” the weekend executions sent a strong message to the Australian government, and other overseas travellers in Indonesia.

In response to the deaths, the ambassadors of Brazil and the Netherlands have been removed from their Indonesian offices.