President Joko Widodo’s severe and uncompromising stance on using the death penalty to punish drug-related crimes has been met with heavy criticism from abroad, but it has, in general, received unanimous support from members of the Indonesian government and legal system.
Which is why the news that the Bandung High Court reduced the sentences of two Iranian drug smugglers from death to life imprisonment is so surprising.
“Sentencing is not about revenge, but a form of rehabilitation and education so that, in the future, the defendants will no longer do anything deserving of punishment,” read the court decision, rendered on March 30 and posted in full on the Bandung High Court’s website.
Mustafa Moradalivand and Seyed Hashem had been sentenced to death by the District Court of Cibadak after being found by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) with 40 kg of methamphetamines in Tangkuban Perahu Nature Reserve in Sukabumi, West Java, on February 26, 2014.
The state prosecutor in the case asked for a sentence of 15-20 years, but the District Court Judges decided that was not enough and ordered the executions of the two Iranians.
The Bandung High Court, specifically head judge Djernih Sitanggang along with judges Russedar and Edwarman, overruled that sentence. In addition to stating that sentencing should be about rehabilitation instead of revenge, the judges also justified their decision by stating that life imprisonment would still act as a deterrent against future criminal acts.
BNN spokesperson Slamet Pribadi voiced his agency’s displeasure at the Bandung Courth’s decision. “Yes, we deplore the decision of the appeal, given that we are in the middle of a drug emergency,” he said yesterday, as quoted by Okezone.
Even if it was true that Indonesia was in the middle of a “drug emergency” (the government continues to rely on faulty statistics to make that claim) the country’s renewed use of the death penalty has not stopped criminals, as we are still writing stories about drug smuggling and dealing every week.
The Bandung High Court judges should be commended for showing compassion while also offering sound legal reasoning as to why the death penalty is not necessary. Sentencing should not be about revenge, it should be rehabilitation and the belief that, given the chance, everybody can become a better person.
