now aint this the poops


Oct. 30, 2007

Indonesia

Indonesian court rules death penalty for drugs offenses is legal

Jakarta Post

JAKARTA - A top Indonesian court ruled Tuesday that sentencing drug
offenders to death does not violate the constitution, dismissing a case
lodged by three Australians awaiting execution for smuggling heroin.

The ruling is blow to the death row inmates, among nine young Australians
arrested by Indonesian police in 2005 over a foiled plot to smuggle 8.3
kilograms of heroin into Australia from the resort island of Bali.

Three others are also facing the death penalty, but were not included in the
suit before the Constitutional Court. Two members of the group, dubbed the
"Bali Nine" by Australian media, got life in prison and the third got 20
years.

In rejecting the petition, a nine-judge panel found that the constitution's
clause on the right to life does not override the criminal code's
stipulation that serious crimes can be punished with death.

The case was filed by lawyers for the three Australians, but the court did
not have the power to directly overturn their convictions. Lawyers for the
three had intended to use a favorable ruling to appeal.

At the end of 2006, 134 people were on death row in Indonesia, including 37
foreigners and 97 Indonesians, most of them for drug-related crimes. At
least four are Islamic extremists awaiting death for their roles in a series
of bombings.

Indonesian government officials, police officers and judges have said they
support capital punishment for drug crimes.

The country has executed at least eight people since 2000.

---

Source : Jakarta Post

The Jakarta Post - Malaysia: Keep Myanmar politics out of ASEAN-EU free trade talks