President Joko Widodo was not kidding when he said he would be firm when it comes to the death penalty for drug cases.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Jokowi has now outright said the life of Bali Nine Kerobokan Prison death row inmate Myuran Sukumaran will not be spared and no clemency will be granted.
All were waiting for Jokowi to respond once reports exploded that Bali Nine Kerobokan Prison death row inmate Myuran Sukumaran had received a letter yesterday dated December 30, 2014 that the president rejected his bid for clemency.
But even despite this letter, there was a sliver of hope for Sukumaran, whose legal team was working with a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling that held multiple appeals for judicial review can be submitted as new evidence arises.
Even after Sukumaran’s public apologies and rehabilitation that has made world headlines in the way of his participation in Kerobokan Prison’s art program, Jokowi apparently told Fairfax Media today that Sukumaran would be given “no second chance.”
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“Fifty people [in Indonesia] are killed every day because of drugs — they [the dead people] can’t be rehabilitated,” the president said, as quoted by the SMH.
Julian McMahon, part of Sukumaran’s legal team along with reports published by the SMH have expressed that Jokowi seems to be disregarding individual cases of rehabilitation and instead, lumping all drug cases together.
“I was astonished to hear that all 64 drug offenders on death row were to be treated the same, as if it’s a rubber stamp process,” said McMahon.
In what seems like defense of himself, the SMH quoted Indonesia’s first-term president as saying: “I did not hand down the death sentence. My obligation is to decide on clemency, and I won’t grand clemency to drugs convicts.”
Andrew Chan, Sukumaran’s fellow convicted Bali Nine ring leader is no doubt on pins and needles at the moment after these remarks. Though Chan has yet to reportedly receive any letter rejecting his clemency bid, his chances are looking slimmer than ever since he was sentenced to die along with Sukumaran in 2006 for attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin outside of Bali in 2005.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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