Foreign Nationals on Death Row
Foreign nationals may commit drug offences due to
their economic precarity or limited opportunities
Humphrey ‘Jeff’ Ejike
provided by the licit economy. For example, many
Jeff, a Nigerian
were working as salesmen, traders or sailors. A few
national, owned a
were involved in drug production, for example as
restaurant in Jakarta.
chemical engineers. All of the women were
He had made a
‘housewives’ or ‘domestic workers’ and were
complaint to the police
couriering for signi cant men in their lives, usually a
about harassment he
romantic partner, rather than in a role associated
with their own profession.
had been subject to at
the restaurant from a
local drug gang. On 2 August 2003, while he was at
Some foreign nationals enter Indonesia with illegal
documents. Several Nigerians used false passports
from other African countries, such as Sierra Leone,
Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Many of the
Nigerians appeared to have couriered drugs into
Indonesia from supply lines in Pakistan. There is also
church, police raided the restaurant and reportedly
found drugs hidden in a mattress. His lawyer at LBH
Masyarakat (LBHM) believes Jeff was framed. Jeff was
beaten severely while in police custody and was
reportedly told he would be released if he gave the
police the name of another African man instead.
some evidence that black people are discriminated
Jeff was sentenced to death in April 2004, despite
against in the criminal justice system and receive
evidentiary inadequacies. Appeals against his sentence
worse treatment in detention, including coerced
were unsuccessful and he was transferred to
confessions. Of the 14 scheduled executions that
were due to take place in July 2016, only four were
carried out, all of whom were black Africans. Black
Nusakambangan prison. In prison, Jeff volunteered at
the prison hospital and led prayer services for other
inmates. While his clemency application was still
pending, Jeff was executed in July 2016, aged 42,
Africans also made up almost half of all executions in along with three other Africans and an Indonesian
man.
2015, despite only representing 1% of all those on
death row.
Ooi Swee Liew
Ooi Swee Liew, a Malaysian woman, suffered from several health conditions. Her husband
Tor Eng Tart told her that he had made arrangements for them to travel to Indonesia to
seek help from a traditional healer. In fact, he was arranging a drugs transfer. The pair were
arrested when drugs were found in their hotel room. Both were sentenced to death in
September 2016. During her trial, the court provided only a Mandarin interpreter
although Ooi Swee Liew did not speak Mandarin, as her husband did. The court appointed
lawyer only met her at the trial for the rst time and she was sentenced to death. Legal aid
clinic LBH Masyarakat (LBHM) offered their assistance at the appeal stage, but the judges
would not overturn the death sentence. LBHM managed to secure her transfer to a women’s prison, however Ooi Swee
fi
fi
Liew died in custody in August 2020, aged 51.