Eight people executed for drug offences in Indonesia

On 28th April, eight people were executed in Indonesia for drug offenses. Despite repeated pleas for mercy from family members, citizens, human rights organizations, the United Nations, and governments around the world, Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Nigerians Martin Anderson, Raheem Agbaje Salami, Okwuduli Oyatanze, and Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, and Indonesian Zainal Abidin faced a firing squad at just past midnight Indonesia-time. Serge Atlaoui from France has been given a temporary reprieve and Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines was given a last-minute reprieve.

The offenses for which these ten have received capital punishment range from transport of heroin to intent to distribute marijuana. Some were young, one was mentally ill, others were in situations of economic necessity. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had called on Indonesia to halt the executions. Though he has said that the United Nations opposes the use of the death penalty for drug related crimes, over 30 countries around the world continue to use capital punishment for drug offenses, executing thousands of people a year.

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