Indonesia is Postponing All Death Penalty Executions

Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said the government had decided not to take death row inmates to the gallows in the near future because at this time it is still focusing on ways of getting the country’s economy back to recovery.

“We haven’t thought about executing a death penalty with economic conditions like this,” the former army general told a media briefing in Jakarta last Thursday (19/11).

Church website ucanews.com reported that the decision effectively extends a temporary reprieve to 30-year-old Filipino Mary Jane Veloso who is currently held in Yogyakarta prison. The former domestic helper’s execution was postponed in the last minute at the early hours on 29 April 2015. The postponement was pending an investigation to claims that she had been the victim of human trafficking.

A few years ago Indonesian officials caught Mary Jane landing in Yogyakarta’s Adisucipti Airport with 2.6 kilograms of heroin.

On 29 April, eight men, including an Indonesian national, were executed by firing squad in Nusakambangan, Central Java. They were all drug-related convicts.

Catholic activists and church leaders in Indonesia and the Philippines highly appreciated the Indonesian government’s move. They said the execution postponement would give lawyers more time to find new ways to free Mary Janes from execution.

Source: GIVnews.com

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