Purwokerto – At least 271 Indonesian migrant workers are currently on death row in various countries, most of whom are now in Malaysia, migrant activist Anis Hidayah said on Thursday.

She also said the mortality rate of the migrants abroad was relatively high and that roughly 1 thousand migrants had died in Malaysia alone.

"Our migrants also often become victims of crimes because of the lack of access to legal aid. In the Middle East, for example, it is hard to prove rape cases because it requires four witnesses," she said during a discussion at Jendral Soedirman University.

Instead of executing more death row inmates in the country, she demanded that the Indonesian government improve protection of its citizens abroad.

Indonesia, one of only 25 countries in the world that still imposes capital punishment, has seen 35 people sentenced to death by the courts since the start of the year, according to the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Since President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo took office in October 2014, the government has executed 18 people, most of whom were drug traffickers.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/25/island-focus-hundreds-migrants-death-row-abroad.html