It was very sad to wake last Wednesday morning to the news eight men had been executed in Indonesia overnight.
They had waited 10 years on death row in a foreign prison – that’s inhumane, and surely punishment enough for their crimes.
While in prison, the two Australians – Andrew Chan and MyuranSukumaran -- reformed themselves: Sukumaran studied fine arts and Chan studied theology to become a pastor and counsellor of his fellow inmates. Punishment and rehabilitation should be what prison sentences are about.
Tragically for their families we’ll never know what their future contributions to society would have been. What a waste.
We understand Indonesia wants to take a tough stand on drugs and we respect its right to do so. But New Zealanders do not support the death penalty under any circumstances.
Execution is not the solution. As such, I would have liked to see a stronger voice from our government, calling for fairness.
International law is also is very clear that capital punishment should only used be for the most serious of crimes, and drug trafficking is not one of them – as opposed to terrorism or murder.
The executions by firing squad went ahead despite strong international pressure on Indonesia – and President JokoWidodo – to show mercy.
His focus on executing drug convicts and the fact that the majority of prisoners on death row for drug crimes are foreigners means foreign citizens are now more likely than Indonesians to be executed in Indonesia.
Sadly, this is diminishing the country’s steady progress on human rights in the eyes of the international community.
In the words of the bereaved families of Chan and Sukumaran, “Today we lost Myuran and Andrew, our sons and brothers. They asked for mercy, but there was none.”