Jakarta - International pressure was increasing on Saturday for Indonesia’s president to stop the imminent execution of up to 10 drug convicts, including nine foreigners.
Consular officials were rushing to Nusakambangan, the prison island off Java where the inmates are to be executed, after the Attorney General’s office said on Friday it had ordered final preparations the executions.
They were expected to briefed about details of the executions later on Saturday.
New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Indonesia to commute the death sentences of the drug-smuggling convicts.
“President (Joko) Widodo has an important opportunity to signal Indonesia’s rejection of the death penalty by sparing the lives of the 10 people facing looming execution,” said Phelim Kine, the group’s deputy Asia director.
“Widodo can demonstrate true leadership by ending capital punishment as unacceptable state brutality,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the answer lay in the hands of the Indonesian authorities.
“We continue to make our position clear. I guess there’s always hope while there’s life, but obviously these are late days.”
Indonesians were also speaking out against the executions on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
An online campaign has been mounted to save Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine national who is among those facing the firing squad.
The hashtag #MaryJane was trending on Twitter in Indonesia on Friday after she was transferred to Nusakambangan.
“The biggest fear is when we can’t defend ourselves,” Indonesian actor Nicholas Saputra tweeted, referring to a story that Veloso was a helpless maid who was duped into smuggling drugs to Indonesia by a family friend.
The European Union on Thursday criticised Indonesia’s plans to execute the convicts, saying the death penalty was not a solution to the country’s growing drug problem.
A foreign diplomat said Friday the inmates could be executed as early as Wednesday. Convicts and their families are typically notified three days in advance before executions.
Authorities said 136 people were on death row, including 64 for drug trafficking, in Indonesia at the end of 2014.
Indonesia executed six of them in January, including five foreigners.
Other drug inmates facing execution include two from Australia, four from Nigeria, and one each from Indonesia, France and Brazil.
The governments of Australia, the Philippines, France and Brazil have also appealed to President Widodo for mercy.
DPA