Three Nigerians have been executed alongside five others who have been on death row after being convicted of drug trafficking.
The men were put to death by firing squad at Nusakambangan prison island near Cilacap in Central Java, at around 00.30 local time after all pleas for clemency were rejected.
“We’ve carried out the executions,” said an Attorney General’s Office (AGO) official, talking to the press on condition of anonymity.
He added that the executions had been carried out after it had heard all eight convicts’ final requests.
The eight were Indonesian Zainal Abidin, Australians Andrew Chan andMyuran Sukumaran, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze, Ghanaian Martin Anderson.
The execution was the second roundafter the first was carried out on Jan. 18, which also included a Nigerian.
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared after a woman who allegedly recruited her toact as a drug courier gave himself upto police in the Philippines on Tuesday.
A tenth death row prisoner, Serge Atlaioui, from France, was due to be executed this week, but his sentence has been delayed pending a legal challenge. Atlaoui’s sin was that he was working in a factory used to produce ecstasy.
However, he claims he was working as a welder and was unaware of the illegal activity.
Front Page, April 29: Eight drug convicts executed despite concerted clemency calls from foreign leaderspic.twitter.com/4tVeKnOnRK— The Jakarta Globe (@thejakartaglobe)April 28, 2015
A Cilacap Police officer said that after the executions, prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion.
“The executions went well, without any disruptions,” he said.In her reaction, Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said
“The world has watched on as this theatre of cruelty played out, with this most tragic of endings.“It did not have to come to this. The death penalty is never the answer.”
