Lethal jab plan for Bali Nine

AUSTRALIAN members of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang, now on death row, could be executed by lethal injection rather than firing squad under changes being considered by Indonesia's Attorney-General.

Abdurrahman Saleh said yesterday he had already discussed the plan with the Indonesian Doctors Association, the country's peak medical body.

"We have had several meetings with them on this matter, and we would like to change the method of execution," Mr Saleh told a bench of nine judges considering constitutional challenges against the death penalty brought by Bali Nine members Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumuran. "Injection is considered more humane."

Narcotics police chief I Made Mangku Pastika said Indonesia had put only three people to death for drug-related crimes. The three, executed in 2004, were an Indian and two Thais convicted of heroin smuggling.

Indonesia has 59 people on death row after drug-related convictions, including the Australians, and General Pastika said, "People are always asking me (when they will be executed)".

The police chief said the small number of executions meant there was little deterrent effect in the punishment.

But Mr Saleh insisted that retaining the death penalty was crucial to fighting narcotics crime. "Indonesia absolutely needs capital punishment - if we do not have it, the fear is that Indonesia will give the wrong message to drug distributors and potential users," the Attorney-General said. "Drug syndicates from Singapore, for example, could all come here."

However, Rush's lawyer, prominent human rights campaigner Todung Mulya Lubis, accused public officials of corruption in the way they manipulated the criminal process.

"Most people who are arrested are just small players - there's always bigger players behind them, like a mafia," Mr Lubis said. "And it's not possible these would exist without the co-operation of the TNI (army), police, prosecutors, judges and lawyers - just like in a novel."

Mr Saleh revealed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did not believe Rush's appeal in the constitutional court was valid, as he was not an Indonesian citizen.

"Because the petitioner is an Australian, I say on behalf of the President that Scott Rush is not qualified to test the Indonesian constitution," Mr Saleh said.

The appeals of Chan and Sukumuran have been presented jointly with those of two Indonesian drug convicts, and so have not attracted the same objection from the Government.

However, Mr Lubis said the constitution's guarantee to life was "not about citizen's rights, but about human rights".

The constitutional court, a relatively new body whose powers remain to be fully tested, is also considering appeals by convicted Bali bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, against their death sentences.

A draft revision to the criminal code now under way could restrict the possibility for multiple death-row clemency appeals, General Pastika revealed after yesterday's hearing.

"I have suggested the execution process be sped up so people have faith in the system," he said.

Mr Saleh said some death-row prisoners were repeatedly applying for pardons and sentence reviews, although the constitution allowed only one plea for review and one for pardon.

"Executions are often delayed because of actions by law-enforcement officials who, in fact, are acting in contravention of the constitution," he said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 28 Mar 2007
Source: The Australian (Australia-Web)
Reporter: Stephen Fitzpatrick
Website:http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au