Indonesia executed two Nigerian drug smugglers Fri, 06/27/2008; 10:06 AM
The Jakarta Post is reporting that two Nigerians convicted of smuggling illegal drugs were executed Thursday night near the Nusa Kambangan island prison in Cilacap, Central Java, a prosecutor was quoted by Kompas.com news portal as saying. Samuel Okoye, 37, and Hansen Nwaolisa, 40, were arrested at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2001, each carrying more than 6.5 pounds (three kilograms) of heroin. They had been held at the high-security prison since their conviction. Earlier in the day, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said the two Nigerians would face a firing squad "tonight". Television footage showed the wives and children of the convicts being escorted to the island, along with ambulances carrying two coffins.
The Jakarta Post is reporting that two Nigerians convicted of smuggling illegal drugs were executed Thursday night near the Nusa Kambangan island prison in Cilacap, Central Java, a prosecutor was quoted by Kompas.com news portal as saying. Samuel Okoye, 37, and Hansen Nwaolisa, 40, were arrested at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2001, each carrying more than 6.5 pounds (three kilograms) of heroin. They had been held at the high-security prison since their conviction. Earlier in the day, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said the two Nigerians would face a firing squad "tonight". Television footage showed the wives and children of the convicts being escorted to the island, along with ambulances carrying two coffins.
It should be noted that one of these men, Mr. Nwaolisa was to be paid a paltry one thousand five hundred dollars ($1500dollars USD) only for his services and now Icheoku wonders if his life was just worth only such a meagre sum? Could this be a result of hardship that force people to go to such extent to survive or was it just an attempt to "kill dead body"? For whatever the reason, the amount does not fit the life that was shot away by Indonesian firing squad!
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Christy 'Apena' Essien-Igbokwe , the wife of Jegede Shokoya of the New Masquerade and Nigeria's lady of songs is dead; she was 51years old. Although her family claimed that "brief Illness" killed her like so many Nigerians; Icheoku retorts that it was most likely AKwa Ibom voodoo and remote control that was used to arrest her. It is on record that she had fallen out with the governor of her native Akwa Ibiom State and have been having a relentless war for political turf with the governor? So who knows whether she was sacrificed to Ekpe cult or even Alusi-Okija as an offal; afterall African science is still very much alive and portent. May her soul rest in peace.
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Nigerian drug smuggler sent to death row
ReplyDeleteThe Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 09/02/2004 2:52 PM | Jakarta
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The Tangerang District Court handed down another death sentence on Wednesday; to a Nigerian citizen, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, 39, who was convicted of smuggling 1.2 kilograms of heroin into the country from Pakistan in December.
The court granted the prosecutors' call for the death penalty but did not fine him the requested Rp 50 million (US$5,434.78).
Clad in a bright blue shirt and dark pants, Nwolise listened to the verdict expressionlessly. He told his lawyer, Martina Mona Riang Lubuk, he would appeal the verdict.
Nwolise is the 28th drug trafficker sentenced to death by the court since January 2000. None of the traffickers sentenced to death in Tangerang have been executed and six have had their death sentences commuted to between 15 and 20-year jail terms after they successfully appealed to higher courts.
Others are still attempting to get lesser sentences by lodging case reviews with the Supreme Court or by seeking a presidential pardon.
Presiding judge Soeprapto and members Benar Sihombing and Yosep Ziraluo convicted the defendant, a resident of Lagos, Nigeria, under Article 82 of the Law No. 22/1997 on drugs for transporting the heroin into the country. The article carries a maximum sentence of death.
Soeprapto said the panel of judges did not find any mitigating factors that would affect the sentencing.
""The defendant's act of smuggling the drug would destroy the lives of thousands of young people and tarnish Indonesia's international image,"" he said.
Compounding factors were that the defendant showed a fake passport to immigration officers, lied to the police when being questioned and was known to be a member of a drug syndicate, Soeprapto said.
The tough sentence was in contrast to an earlier lesser sentence request from the prosecutors, who had said Nwolise had been cooperative during the investigation.
Prosecutor Eben Silalahi said Second Insp. Dedy Murti at the National Police Headquarters had received a tip-off Nwolise would transport the heroin on a plane from Pakistan to Jakarta via Bangkok on Dec. 21, 2003.
Police officers at the airport approached the defendant when he left the terminal and asked for his identification. The defendant handed down a passport bearing the name Josphat Sibanda.
The officers made a body search of the defendant and became suspicious when they found his stomach was hard and he was perspiring.
He was taken to a hospital for an X-ray and the result confirmed his stomach was filled with hard objects. Officers then gave the defendant medicine to make him defecate.
Over 36 hours, he produced 66 white capsules from his stomach. Later tests confirmed the capsules contained heroin.
Nwolise testified he had been asked to pass on the drug to Afianyi in Jakarta by a man called ""John"" and was promised US$1,500 for his services. He pled guilty to the charge of trafficking.
Both John and Afianyi are still at large.
Drug trial starts for two Nigerians
ReplyDeleteThe Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 06/27/2003 3:19 PM | Jakarta
TANGERANG: A local district court began on Thursday the trial of two Nigerian men charged with possessing six kilograms of heroin in Tangerang, Banten province, for which they face a possible death penalty.
Prosecutors Puji Raharjo and R. Vidiato said the defendants, Michael Titus Igweh, 23, and Hillary K. Chimezia, 24, were found to be organizing drug trafficking.
The case involved an Indonesian woman, Marlena, and a Zimbabwean, Kholisani Nkomo alias Ichku Eberu Okolwaja.
Igweh and Chimezia were arrested in August last year following a tipoff from residents who had frequently seen drug transactions taking place at Marlena's house in the Vila Melati Mas housing complex in Serpong, Tangerang.
However, Marlena had died of a lung ailment while Okolwaja had died due to an AIDS-related illness at the Kramat Djati Police Hospital, East Jakarta, amid the investigation into the case.
Both Igweh and Chimezia were charged with violating Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which carries a maximum penalty of death.
Presiding judge Permadi adjourned the trial until next Thursday to hear the defense plea from the defendants' lawyers. --JP
Police Ask that Execution be Stepped Up
ReplyDeleteFriday, 27 June, 2008 | 11:57 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Sutanto, who is also the National Drug Institution Head, considered that long legal procedures are one of the obstacles to the execution. The reason is that before the execution, there is no time limit for legal procedure. “They are playing with this. They should be able to arrange when to appeal and when to review,” he said.
If the convict were given the death penalty and has undergone all legal procedures until the clemency was denied, he said, it was better to speed up the execution. Sutanto also said that two drug convicts who were sentenced to the death penalty in 2001 would be executed soon. They are Nigerian heroin smugglers Samuel Iwukchuwu and Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa.
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga said that the execution of the two Nigerians will be performed soon. The execution notice has also been given. “That means, they know they are going to be executed,” said Abdul Hakim. According to law, said Abdul Hakim, the convicts would be executed three days after the notice. However, if you ask me what time, I cannot answer. Normally it is done at midnight.”
Abdul Hakim also said that they have granted the two's last wishes. They asked to meet with their country's representatives. “Nigerian Embassy staffs have gone to Nusakambangan,” he said. They were helped by the National Police Headquarter's aircraft.
The two Nigerians execution plan caused a riot at Pasir Putih Prison, Nusakambangan, Cilacap, Central Java last Monday, in which several rooms were damaged. The officers could not do much. Fortunately, the Car Brigade, which was asked to provide help at Nusakambangan, managed the situation.
According to the Central Java Legal and Human Rights Division Head Bambang Winahyo, the riot at the Super Maximum Security prison was provoked by the two Nigerian convicts. “After they were informed of the execution, they provoked the inmates,” said Bambang after he observed Nusakambangan yesterday.
While Central Java's Police spokesperson Syahroni said that they had prepared a shooting team from the Car Brigade Unit to perform the execution. “We are ready anytime. But we have not received any order from the Attorney General
Indonesia to kill foreign drug smugglers
ReplyDeleteEmail Print Normal font Large font June 26, 2008 - 8:11PM
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Indonesia says it will speed up the execution process for drug traffickers, in a major blow for three Australians on death row for heroin smuggling.
As authorities prepared for the executions of two Nigerian heroin smugglers, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said other drug offenders on death row could expect their cases to be expedited.
"They are all still in the (legal) process and will be accelerated according to existing regulations," the Antara news agency quoted him as saying.
The head of Indonesia's anti-drugs body also said executions must take place more quickly to deter traffickers.
"To give them a lesson, drug traffickers must be executed immediately," Police chief and National Anti-Narcotic Body chairman General Sutanto said.
"With a quick trial and execution process it will give a deterrent effect to the perpetrators, and perpetrators to be."
The comments are a blow for the three Australians on death row over the failed Bali Nine plot to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin to Australia in 2005.
So too are the planned executions of the two Nigerians.
They will be the first drug offenders put to death in Indonesia since 2004, and the first since the Bali Nine were arrested.
"The sentences are a grim reminder of how serious ... the issue of the death penalty is," said Darwin-based lawyer Colin MacDonald QC, who represents Bali Nine death row inmate Scott Rush.
Rush, who was a drug mule in the Bali Nine plot, and ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran failed in a legal challenge to Indonesia's harsh drug laws last year.
They still have the option of seeking a judicial review of their death sentences, and a clemency appeal to the president.
MacDonald said he was working hard to ensure Rush escaped the firing squad.
"No doubt we will discuss this development with Scott," he said, but added he did not expect his client to be informed of the Nigerians' executions until next week, when his parents and Australian legal team are due to visit.
"He has support. He will have his mother and father there, but he will also have my assurances that we, his legal team, will be doing everything we can to advance his very strong judicial review application.
"He can also take heart that the Australian government will do all that it can to make representations for him and all the other Australian citizens affected."
Officials said the two Nigerians had been moved to a special cell at their prison on Nusakambangan Island, off Central Java, ahead of their executions by firing squad tonight.
Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa, 40, was sentenced to die for trafficking 600g heroin in 43 capsules which he had swallowed in Pakistan before arriving in Jakarta airport in January 2001.
Okoye was caught carrying 3.8kg of heroin in the lining of two pieces of luggage at Jakarta airport, after arriving from India, also in January 2001. He told police he was supposed to pass the goods onto an Australian known only as "Ron" in Jakarta.
Both men were was sentenced to death in mid-2001, with their final appeals for clemency rejected in July 2004.
Amnesty International said the men should be spared.
"Experts in international law, including the top UN officials, have confirmed that applying the death penalty for drug-related offences is a breach of international law," a spokesperson said.
The other six members of the Bali Nine are serving long sentences, including some life terms.
Six of the nine were originally sentenced to death, but three - Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen - had their sentences commuted to life in March following a successful judicial review.
Indonesia executes two drug traffickers
ReplyDeleteEmail Print Normal font Large font June 27, 2008 - 8:55AM
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Indonesia has executed two foreign heroin traffickers - the first drug offenders put to death in four years.
They died as Indonesia vowed to expedite the execution of the other drug traffickers on death row, in a major blow for three Australians awaiting execution for heroin smuggling.
Nigerian nationals Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa, 40, and Samuel Iwuchukwu Okoye, 37, were shot by firing squad at midnight local time (3am AEST), Central Java police mobile brigade chief Colonel Dicky Atotoy said.
"At 0000 the execution was carried out on the two Nigerians," he said.
"Before the execution they were blessed by two priests.
"They were handcuffed to poles, standing side by side and shot by two sniper squads."
Nwaolisa was sentenced to death for trafficking 600 grams of heroin in 43 capsules which he had swallowed in Pakistan before arriving at Jakarta airport in January 2001.
Okoye was caught carrying 3.8kg of heroin in the lining of two pieces of luggage at Jakarta airport, after arriving from India, also in January 2001.
He told police he was supposed to pass the goods on to an Australian known only as "Ron" in Jakarta.
Both men were sentenced to death in mid-2001, with their final appeals for clemency rejected in July 2004.
Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji said other drug offenders on death row could expect their cases to be expedited.
Almost half of about 60 people on death row over drug offences in Indonesia are foreigners.
"They are all still in the (legal) process and will be accelerated according to existing regulations," the Antara news agency quoted him as saying on Thursday.
The head of Indonesia's anti-drugs body also said executions must take place more quickly to deter traffickers.
The comments are a blow for the three Australians on death row over the failed Bali Nine plot to smuggle more than eight kg of heroin to Australia in 2005.
Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush and ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran failed in a legal challenge to Indonesia's harsh drug laws last year.
They still have the option of seeking a judicial review of their death sentences, and a clemency appeal to the president.
Indonesia executes drug duo
ReplyDeleteEmail Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Mark Forbes in Jakarta
June 28, 2008
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TWO Nigerian drug traffickers were handcuffed to poles in Indonesia early yesterday morning and shot by firing squads.
It followed announcements that drug executions would be expedited, alarming lawyers for three Australians on death row.
Colin McDonald, lawyer for a Bali heroin courier, Scott Rush, said he would travel to Jakarta next week to formulate new moves to overturn his client's death sentence.
The executions of Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa and Samuel Iwuchukwu Okoye near their prison in Central Java were a grim reminder of the urgency of the convicted Australians' plight, Mr McDonald said.
The Nigerians are the first drug offenders to be executed in Indonesia in four years, following a call from Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji and police chief General Sutanto to speed up executions as a warning to those involved in the drug trade.
Central Java police mobile brigade chief Colonel Dicky Atotoy said the two Nigerians, caught smuggling heroin in 2001, were blessed by two priests before being executed. "They were handcuffed to poles, standing side by side and shot by two sniper squads," he said.
"The two were confirmed dead by doctors about 10 minutes after they were executed by firing squad teams."
Mr Supandji said the other 60 drug offenders on death row could expect their cases to be expedited. "They are all still in the process and will be accelerated according to existing regulations."
Rush and alleged Bali nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran failed in a constitutional challenge to Indonesia's death penalty last year.
They still have the option of seeking a judicial review of their death sentences, and are appealing to the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for clemency. Dr Yudhoyono has previously indicated he would not pardon drug traffickers.
This week, inmates of the prison rioted against the pending executions of the men, which appears to have hardened the resolve of authorities to carry out more death sentences.
General Sutanto said that drug traffickers must be executed immediately "to give them a lesson".
"With a quick trial and execution process, it will give a deterrent effect to the perpetrators, and perpetrators to be," he said.
Two Nigerians executed in Indonesia for drugs
ReplyDeletePhoto: Reuters
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CILACAP, Indonesia (Reuters) - Two Nigerians convicted of drug smuggling have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia, officials said on Friday.
Samuel Iwachekawu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa were executed before midnight on Thursday on Nusakambangan prison island, which is off the coast of central Java.
Nigeria's government, which asked Indonesia last month for a stay of execution, expressed its regret over the deaths.
"This was despite the passionate plea for a stay of execution and commutation of their death sentences," Nigeria's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Indonesia has defended the death penalty as a necessary deterrent in a country with a growing drugs problem. The last foreigners to be executed for drugs offences were two Thai nationals in October 2004.
Three Australians convicted of drug trafficking are also on death row in Indonesia until their appeal process is exhausted. They were among nine Australians arrested in the resort island of Bali in 2005 with 8.2 kg (18 lb) of heroin. ADVERTISEMENT
Indonesian prosecutors have said they are also preparing the executions of three Bali bombers for their role in deadly attacks in 2002 that killed 202 people.
Dicky Atotoy, head of the Central Java mobile brigade police, said the two Nigerians had been tied to two wooden poles with their heads covered, and shot by two teams of police snipers.
"The doctor declared the two convicts dead at 00:00 following the firing squads' duty to execute them," Atotoy said.
It is not clear where the two men will be buried. A Reuters witness said that no coffins had been taken off the island
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