Indonesia defends executions, after convicts die singing

Indonesia on Wednesday staunchly defended its execution of seven foreigners including two Australians as a vital front of its “war” on drugs as testimony emerged of how they went singing to their deaths.

Australia withdrew its ambassador in protest at the midnight executions, but Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he was merely applying “the rule of law” against narcotics traffickers.

The seven convicts — two from Australia, one from Brazil and four from Africa — were shot by firing squad along with one Indonesian, despite strident foreign appeals and pleas from family members.

Brazil expressed “deep regret” at the execution of its national, who is mentally ill according to his family, and said it was weighing its next move.

The condemned men reportedly all refused blindfolds and sang hymns, among them “Amazing Grace”, as they went to face the firing squad in a jungle clearing, according to a pastor who was with them.

As the clock ticked down to midnight, a group of tearful supporters also sang hymns, embraced and held candles aloft during a vigil at the port in Cilacap, the gateway to the prison island of Nusakambangan.

After the executions, family members could be seen crying as they were ushered away by friends and supporters, an AFP reporter saw.

A Filipina originally set to be executed was given an 11th hour reprieve after a woman who allegedly duped her into ferrying drugs to Indonesia came forward to police in the Philippines.

The reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso was hailed in the Philippines as a miracle and a gift from God, but Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo stressed it was only a “postponement” to allow time for police investigations.

He added: “We are fighting a war against horrible drug crimes that threaten our nation’s survival.

“I would like to say that an execution is not a pleasant thing. It is not a fun job,” Prasetyo told reporters in Cilacap.

“But we must do it in order to save the nation from the danger of drugs. We are not making enemies of countries from where those executed came. What we are fighting against is drug-related crimes.”