Pubdate: Wed, 04 May 2016
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.ie/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/213
Author: Phillip Sherwell

FEARS FOR BRITISH GRANDMOTHER AS INDONESIA READIES FIRING SQUADS

INDONESIAN police have set up "several" firing squads ready for 
deployment to a notorious prison island as the country finalises 
preparations for a fresh wave of executions of drug smugglers.

Two British death row inmates, including grandmother Lindsay 
Sandiford (59), could be among the next batch of prisoners tied to a 
stake and executed. Commander Aloys Darmanto, the Central Java police 
spokesman, said yesterday the provincial mobile brigade unit has 
established several firing squads to be sent when needed to 
Nusakambangan prison island.

A larger execution ground is also reported to have been prepared as 
Indonesia is expected to press ahead "within weeks" with putting drug 
traffickers to death, after a one-year hiatus.

"Everyone is ready, including prison officials," he told the 'Jakarta Globe'.

It was on Nusakambangan last April that 14 convicts were executed, 
including two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were 
leaders of the Bali Nine drug trafficking ring.

"All firing squads from the mobile brigade unit are preparing 
themselves for the execution," Cdr Aloys said.

He refused to reveal how many firing squad members have been trained 
as that might indicate how many inmates will be executed.

Muhammad Prasetyo, the attorney general, said in April that the next 
round of executions would be carried out "soon" and that the inmates 
would include some foreigners currently on death row.

Sandiford was arrested for attempting to smuggle 4.791 kg of cocaine 
after arriving at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali from 
Bangkok in 2013. She is the most high-profile foreigner on death row.

A fellow Briton, Gareth Cashmore (36), was sentenced to death in 
2012, a year after he was initially given a punishment of life 
imprisonment when crystal meth was found in his luggage.

Joko Widodo, the president, ordered the re-implementation of the 
death penalty after he was elected in 2014, saying that the "war on 
drugs" was a national priority.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom