Indonesia
Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Overview
According to data collected by the Institute for
Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) from the Directorate
General of Corrections (Ditjen PAS) of Indonesia,
there were 355 people on death row in September
2020. Just over a quarter of those under sentence
of death (26%) were foreign nationals. Death
penalty offences in Indonesia include murder,
robbery, terrorism, drug traf cking and possession,
and corruption. However, all of the cases involving
foreign nationals were involving drug offences.
Executions have not been carried out in Indonesia
since 2016. However, in 2019 the Attorney General
announced his intention to resume executions in
the near future. The majority of the executions
carried out in 2015 and 2016 were of foreign
nationals, though, according to latest statistics,
they account for only 26% of the death row
population (12 of the 14 executions carried out in
Despite the fact that drug-related deaths have been
decreasing in Indonesia, death sentences have
been steadily increasing. This is leading to an
exponential increase in the death row population
where most prisoners remain inde nitely, given the
lack of commutation mechanisms and hesitancy in
granting clemency applications. In fact, in
December 2014 President Joko Widodo declared
that he would refuse all clemency applications for
drug offenders on death row, closing the door to
the nal chance to avoid execution.
Political will appears to be against the abolition of
the death penalty; with politicians citing public
opinion and a belief in its deterrent power and in
its effectiveness against the drugs trade. However,
research by Carolyn Hoyle for The Death Penalty
Project suggests that deterrence and public
opinion are not barriers to abolition.
2015 were of foreign nationals and 3 of the 4
executions in 2016).
Mary Jane Veloso
Mary Jane, a Filipina and a single mother of two, ed Dubai, where she was working
as a domestic worker after an attempted rape by her employer. She claims she was
then offered a job in Indonesia, as a domestic worker, by a family friend who gave
her some luggage to take with her. On arrival in Indonesia, in April 2010, 2.6kg of
heroin was found in her luggage. She was arrested and sentenced to death later in
2010, at aged just 22. She was due to be executed in April 2015, but was granted a
temporary stay hours before the execution was due to take place. Her alleged
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traf ckers have been convicted for human traf cking offences in the Philippines.