Indonesia Ignores Foreign Leaders' Pleas, Will Execute Drug Traffickers

Indonesia will execute 11 people, including seven foreigners, convicted for drug trafficking and smuggling despite the repeated pleas from the leaders of Australia, Brazil, France and a clemency petition.

BALI (Sputnik) — Indonesia will not delay the planned execution of 11 people, including seven foreigners, most of whom were convicted for drug trafficking and smuggling, the Jakarta Globe reported Wednesday.

Earlier in the week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo rejected a clemency petition for the convicts, eight of whom were on death row for drug trafficking, including four Indonesians, two Australians, and citizens of Brazil, Canadia, France, Spain and the Philippines.

"I will say this firmly: no one may intervene with the executions because it is our sovereign right to exercise our laws," Widodo was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Two Australians awaiting execution, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, are members of the so-called Bali Nine group, which allegedly plotted to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.

The execution of the inmates will be carried out despite the repeated pleas from the leaders of Australia, Brazil and France.

Last Friday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a similar appeal to the Indonesian authorities.

In January, Indonesia carried out the executions of five foreigners for drug-related crimes. Brazil and the Netherlands have withdrawn their ambassadors from Jakarta in protest over their citizens' execution.

Widodo warned that drug-related crimes had created an "emergency situation" in Indonesia. The country's National Narcotics Agency estimates that today one in 60 Indonesians is a drug addict.