Nabiila Azzahra, Jakarta – The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) has urged President Prabowo Subianto to abolish the death penalty in the revision of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics. According to the criminal law reform institution, this step is in line with Prabowo's anti-death penalty stance.

Prabowo believes that Indonesia should not impose the death penalty on corruptors, because there is always a small possibility that a person sentenced to death is innocent. The Acting Executive Director of the ICJR, Maidina Rahmawati, stated that Prabowo's views are in line with the ICJR's opposition to all forms of the death penalty. 'For this reason, the ICJR calls for the president's views to be realized in all legal policies in Indonesia,' said Maidina in a written statement on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

She urged Prabowo's views to be put into practice through the ongoing revision of the Narcotics Law. According to ICJR records, 89 percent of the demands and death penalty decisions in Indonesia throughout 2023 were related to narcotics policies. Furthermore, 69 percent of death row convicts awaiting execution also originated from narcotics policies.

The ICJR emphasizes that the war on drugs has actually increased the number of death penalties in Indonesia. For example, during the seventh President Joko Widodo's tenure, 18 people convicted of drug cases were executed.

Additionally, extrajudicial killings related to alleged drug cases have also occurred. According to data from the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Masyarakat, throughout 2017, there were 183 cases of shootings at the scene involving suspected drug crime perpetrators. The total number of victims was 215 people, with 99 fatalities and 116 injured.

As a solution, the ICJR proposes that the government decriminalize drug users. 'The president must support the decriminalization of drug users. Let's reconsider that drug users should be responded to with a health approach, not a punitive law enforcement approach, which in turn becomes corrupt,' said Maidina.

Previously, Prabowo stated that Indonesia should not impose the death penalty on corruptors. According to him, even if there is a 99 percent chance that a convict is guilty, there is still a 1 percent chance that they are innocent. For instance, if the convict was framed by someone else. 'If the death penalty is final, we cannot bring them back to life,' said Prabowo.

He also stated that many death executions have been postponed, and previous presidents of Indonesia did not order the execution of those who had been sentenced to death. He believes that this practice needs to be continued. 'Let us follow the jurisprudence of our previous leaders,' he said.

These views were expressed by Prabowo during an interview with seven senior journalists and chief editors of national media at his residence in Sentul, Bogor Regency, West Java, on Sunday, April 6, 2025.

Najwa Shihab, the founder of Narasi TV and a journalist who also participated in the interview with Prabowo, has allowed Tempo to quote the interview.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1995183/icjr-urges-president-prabowo-to-abolish-death-penalty-in-drug-case