DEATH SENTENCE WON'T STOP DRUG DEALERS

Human rights campaigners have reiterated their call for end to the
death penalty, which they say has proven ineffective in deterring drug
dealers and is against the basic human right to live.

"There is no empirical data that supports an argument a country which
has the death penalty can drop its offending rate lower than countries
that don't apply capital punishment," Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI) director Hendardi said on Saturday.

Hendardi said only God, not the state, had the right to take peoples'
lives.

"The right to life is the fundamental right of every human being. (The
government) should forthwith scrap any rules legitimizing the death
sentence," he said.

Noted human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said life imprisonment
should be the maximum sentence for criminals.

"I fully support efforts to punish all drug dealers and other big-time
criminals as severely as possible. But I disagree with the death
sentence because it is against our basic right to live," he said.

On Thursday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected requests for
clemency by seven more drug traffickers on death row, most of them
foreigners. The decision was taken more than four years after they
submitted their pleas.

Earlier this year, Megawati refused to pardon Indian national Ayodhya
Prasadh Chaubey, who was convicted of drug trafficking. He was
arrested in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1994.

Three other drug traffickers are also facing execution after their
pleas for clemency were turned down last year. They are all
Indonesians -- Deni Setia Maharwan, Meirika Franola and Rani Andriani.

Hendardi criticized Megawati for delaying her decision to reject the
offenders' requests, saying it meant the convicts had received a
double punishment -- imprisonment and a death sentence.

"All of the president's decisions to turn down clemency pleas come
after (the convicts) waited for years in prison. When their pleas were
rejected, most had already been in jail for 10 years," he said.

While she accepted the imposition of death penalty, a prominent
University of Indonesia criminologist, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, also
criticized the slow process.

"We should set a deadline to limit the process. If the process exceeds
the deadline then the president or the court should commute the death
sentence to life to avoid double punishments," she said.

There are many convicts on death row but only one offender has been
executed during the past 10 years -- a Malaysian, Chan Ting Tong alias
Steven Chong, who was shot by a 12-man firing squad in 1994.

National Narcotics Agency (BNN) director Comr. Gen. Togar Sianipar has
demanded all death row drug traffickers be executed as soon as
possible to deter others committing such crimes.

Under Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics and Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic
substances, a drug offense carries a maximum death sentence.

Although a district court may have sentenced a defendant to death, he
or she can appeal to a higher court and later to the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court hands down its verdict, convicts can ask it to
review the case before they request a presidential pardon.

Based on Law No. 3/1950, clemency request can be filed twice by the
same offender.

Seven convicts whose pleas for clemency were recently rejected by President
Megawati Soekarnoputri:

No. Name Age Country District court

1. Samuel Iwuchekwu Okoye 34 Nigeria Tangerang, Banten

2. Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa 37 Nigeria Tangerang, Banten

3. Indra Bahadur Tamang 24 Nepal Tangerang, Banten

4. Muhammad Abdul Hafez 36 Pakistan Tangerang, Banten

5. Namaona Denis 39 Malawi Tangerang, Banten

6. Saelow Prasert - Thailand Medan, North Sumatra

7. Namsong Sirilak - Thailand Medan, North Sumatra