Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should commute the death sentences of five individuals scheduled for execution "as soon as possible" for violating drug trafficking laws, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

"President Jokowi should join the global tide toward abolishing the death penalty rather than approving multiple executions," HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said on Thursday.

"Indonesia should demonstrate leadership among Asian nations by stopping the barbarous practice once and for all," he went on.

Jokowi authorized the execution of the five prisoners, whose names have not been released, earlier this month. He justified his rejection of the five prisoners' petitions for clemency on the basis that drug traffickers on death row had "destroyed the future of the nation".

Speaking during a lecture at a Yogyakarta college on Dec. 9, Jokowi said the death penalty for convicted drug traffickers was "important shock therapy" for anyone who violated Indonesia's drug laws.

According to Attorney General's Office (AGO) data, 136 people are currently on death row in Indonesia, 64 of whom have been convicted of drug trafficking, two of terrorism and the rest for murder and robbery.

Indonesia executed by firing squad Adami Wilson, a 48-year-old Malawian national, on March 15, 2013, ending a four-year unofficial moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Wilson was convicted of smuggling 1 kilogram heroin into Indonesia in 2004.

HRW says it opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty. "Indonesia's use of the death penalty is inconsistent with international human rights law, statements of United Nations human rights experts, and various UN bodies," the group said.

It further said human rights law upheld every human being's "inherent right to life" and limited the death penalty to "the most serious crimes," typically crimes resulting in death.

"Indonesia should join with the many countries already committed to the UN General Assembly's December 18, 2007 resolution calling for a moratorium on executions and a move by UN member countries toward abolition of the death penalty," said HRW. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/18/ri-must-stop-planned-executions-hrw.html