Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Human rights watch dog Imparsial reaffirmed its stance against the death penalty, citing a report that five convicts will be executed by the end of this year while 20 others are awaiting their execution next year.

"No one has the right to take another's life, not even the state. President [Joko] 'Jokowi' [Widodo]must abolish the death penalty as he promised to uphold human rights [in his presidential campaign]," Imparsial executive director Poengky Indarty told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According Imparsial, 158 inmates are on death row in the country, 66 of whom are foreigners from 23 countries such as Nigeria, Australia, Nepal, China and Malaysia.

Eighty-nine of the convicts were sentenced to death in various cases, while 60 and nine convicts were found guilty of murder and terrorism, respectively.

Poengky said that the death penalty could not remain in the country's legal system as it had ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2005. One of articles in the covenant stipulated that every state must protect the right to life.

Poengky said that the death sentence was in fact a holdover from the country's colonial past. "Indonesia carried on the death sentence and it's not relevant anymore," Poengky said.

Last Week, newly inaugurated attorney general HM Prasetyo announced that five death-row inmates would be executed by the end of this year while 20 others, the majority of whom are drug convicts, would face the firing squad in 2015.

The attorney general plans to execute 10 convicts annually. "We will carry out the executions after we complete their paper work. There is no mercy for drug dealers," Prasetyo said.

The most recent executions in Indonesia took place in 2013 when the Attorney Generals Office took the lives of drug smuggler Adam Wilson in March, three convicted murderers in the Cilacap prison in May and a Pakistani drug smuggler in November.

Poengky said that if Jokowi could not abolish the death penalty immediately, he should at least impose a moratorium on the death penalty while it underwent evaluation.

Indonesia has 11 laws that carry the death sentence, including the Criminal Code, Law No. 12/1951 on firearm ownership, Law No. 11/PNPS 1963 on subversive activities, Law No. 5/1997 on drugs, Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication, Law No. 26/2000 on human rights court, Law No. 23/2002 on children's protection, and Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism

Al Araf, Imparsial program director, said that the new government should change its view on capital punishment.

"There is no correlation between crime and punishment. The death sentence will not guarantee that crimes rates will go down. We recommend a life sentence for those who commit serious crimes," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/03/rights-group-renews-call-end-capital-punishment.html