A South African, who was convicted for drug possession in Indonesia, is facing execution.
Seck Osmane, a Senegalese-South African, is one of 14 drug convicts scheduled to be executed tomorrow. No details are available about his SA connection.
Asked whether there were any diplomatic talks to save Osmane’s life, department of international relations and cooperation spokesman Nelson Kgwete said: “As far as I am aware, there are no talks or diplomatic interventions in respect of the case of the said individual.”
Yesterday, a source in Indonesia said Osmane was among 14 convicts facing death and provided the contact details of his lawyer Farhat Abbas who could not be reached for comment.
The Guardian reports that Osmane was sentenced to death in Jakarta in 2004 for carrying 2.4kg of heroin in 25 packages. The prosecutor had told the court: “He came to Indonesia and acted in a manner that would destroy the future of the nation, by smuggling a large quantity of heroin for sale…and should be sentenced to death.”
Osmane’s appeal was rejected by the supreme court in 2005, and final judicial challenges failed in 2009 and 2011.
Amnesty International’s South East Asia and the Pacific deputy director Josef Benedict said Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi”, would be putting his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeded with a fresh round of executions.
“Amnesty International received credible reports that at least 14 people, who consist of four Indonesian and 10 foreign nationals, including a Pakistani, an Indian, a Zimbabwean, a Senegalese, a South African, and five Nigerians, could be executed this week.”
“President Widodo’s era was supposed to represent a new start for human rights in Indonesia. Sadly, he could preside over the highest number of executions in the country’s democratic era at a time when most of the world has turned its back on this cruel practice,” said Benedict in a statement released yesterday.
The organisation was also concerned that some of the prisoners who could face the firing squad were convicted in manifestly unfair trials and had not submitted clemency requests to the president.
Amnesty International last year found that in 12 cases defendants were denied access to legal counsel at the time of their arrest, and at different periods thereafter.
To date, these claims have not been investigated by the authorities. — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
South African faces firing squad for drugs
Seck Osmane, a Senegalese-South African, is one of 14 drug convicts scheduled to be executed tomorrow. No details are available about his SA connection.
Asked whether there were any diplomatic talks to save Osmane’s life, department of international relations and cooperation spokesman Nelson Kgwete said: “As far as I am aware, there are no talks or diplomatic interventions in respect of the case of the said individual.”
Yesterday, a source in Indonesia said Osmane was among 14 convicts facing death and provided the contact details of his lawyer Farhat Abbas who could not be reached for comment.
The Guardian reports that Osmane was sentenced to death in Jakarta in 2004 for carrying 2.4kg of heroin in 25 packages. The prosecutor had told the court: “He came to Indonesia and acted in a manner that would destroy the future of the nation, by smuggling a large quantity of heroin for sale…and should be sentenced to death.”
Osmane’s appeal was rejected by the supreme court in 2005, and final judicial challenges failed in 2009 and 2011.
Amnesty International’s South East Asia and the Pacific deputy director Josef Benedict said Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi”, would be putting his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeded with a fresh round of executions.
“Amnesty International received credible reports that at least 14 people, who consist of four Indonesian and 10 foreign nationals, including a Pakistani, an Indian, a Zimbabwean, a Senegalese, a South African, and five Nigerians, could be executed this week.”
“President Widodo’s era was supposed to represent a new start for human rights in Indonesia. Sadly, he could preside over the highest number of executions in the country’s democratic era at a time when most of the world has turned its back on this cruel practice,” said Benedict in a statement released yesterday.
The organisation was also concerned that some of the prisoners who could face the firing squad were convicted in manifestly unfair trials and had not submitted clemency requests to the president.
Amnesty International last year found that in 12 cases defendants were denied access to legal counsel at the time of their arrest, and at different periods thereafter.
To date, these claims have not been investigated by the authorities. — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
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