Drug Smuggler Faces Death Penalty in Indonesia Despite Mental Illness

Indonesia said a convicted Brazilian drug smuggler could still be executed despite claims by his family that he is schizophrenic, local media reported Friday.

Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said Rodrigo Gularte, 42, was mentally sound when he was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for smuggling cocaine into Indonesia.

Gularte is among seven foreign drug convicts and several Indonesians who have exhausted their appeals and face execution next month.

The foreigners include two Australians and one each from the Philippines, France, Nigeria and Ghana.

Gularte's planned execution has sparked a diplomatic row between Indonesia and Brazil.

Fellow Brazilian citizen Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, was executed in Indonesia last month along with five other convicts.

Australia has also become embroiled in a diplomatic tangle over the planned execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine drug smuggling ring of Australians.