Indonesian Firing Squad Executes Eight Drug Convicts Accused Of Trafficking Heroine [Breaking]

Indonesia has carried out the scheduled executions of eight drug convicts, most of them foreigners, shortly after midnight on Wednesday. According to the New York Times, all the eight drug convicts were shot by police firing squads at around 12:25 a.m. local time. The execution was carried out at the Pasir Putih prison on the island of Nusa Kambangan, off the southern coast of Java. The execution of a ninth convict was stayed at the last moment and has been postponed, an Indonesian government source confirmed.

The executions of the eight drug convicts comes 72 hours after Indonesia gave an official intimation to the convicts about their fate. The family members of the convicts were also informed about the fact that the executions will go as planned. Indonesia ignored worldwide condemnation and calls to grant clemency to all the accused.

The executed drug convicts included citizens from Australia, Brazil, and Nigeria, and an Indonesian man.

The person whose execution was stayed is 30-year-old Mary Jane Veloso of the Philippines, after the Philippine government sought help from her for a human trafficking case. Indonesian authorities stayed Mary’s execution to ensure that she testifies in connection with that case. The decision to not execute Mary at this time might have come as a temporary relief for her family members, who maintain that she was innocent and was duped by a drug syndicate. Veloso was caught flying into Indonesia with 5 pounds of heroin hidden in her suitcase back in 2010. Another convict arrested on drug trafficking charges, a Frenchman was originally on the list of people to be executed today. He, however, managed to win a two-week reprieve.

Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the executed drug convicts were allowed to pay their final visits to them on Tuesday. They were not, however, allowed to witness the executions. One of the executed prisoners, Australian Andrew Chan, had on Monday married his fiancée in a small ceremony held at the prison. Chen and his other Australian partner, Myuran Sukumaran, were arrested on drug trafficking charges in 2005 and had been languishing in prison ever since.

This is the second time in 2015 that indonesia has carried out such mass executions. Back in January, Indonesia had angered the governments of Australia and the Netherlands after the country executed their citizens on drug trafficking charges. Both the countries recalled their ambassadors from Jakarta. Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, however maintained his stance and refused to budge.

Meanwhile, there have been accusations on the neutrality and fairness of the judgement after reports came in that the judge who handed down the death sentence to Chan and Sukumaran had asked them for money to ensure a lighter sentence. The wife of one of the Nigerians who was executed today also claimed that judges had promised to deliver a lighter sentence in exchange of money.

The new round of execution of drug convicts by Indonesia is once again likely to snowball into a major diplomatic row.

[Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images]