Indonesia transfers US citizen to 'execution island'

An armed police officer outside the gate to the ferry port for the prison island of Nusa Kambangan. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Indonesia has transferred a convicted US citizen to its so-called execution island, prompting fears among rights organisations that the government may be preparing another round of firing squads.

Human Rights Watch said Frank Amado, who faces the death penalty for drug trafficking, had been moved to facilities on Nusa Kambangan island, the site of previous recent executions.

Indonesian press is reporting six other foreign nationals on death row may have moved along with him, including Chen Weibiao, Xiao Jin Zeng and Lo Tin Yau, from China; Malaysian citizen E Wee Hock; Frank Nwaomeka from Nigeria; and Lai Siu Cheung Anika, from Hong Kong.

No US citizen has ever been executed by the Indonesian government.

"This is a worrying development. But we can't be entirely certain if these transfers are part of preparations for new executions, due to the lack of transparency that is just one of many problems with Indonesia's penal system," said Ricky Gunawan, director of the Community Legal Aid Institute, an organisation in Jakarta that has worked with Human Rights Watch to monitor Amado's case.

"The most recent executions were preceded by transfers to Nusa Kambangan, which is often called execution island here, but the government also sometimes moves prisoners there for other reasons.

"There are serious irregularities in Indonesia's death penalty system and we call for a halt to this round of executions with a view to implementing a new moratorium and then abolition."

After a halt on executions between 2009 and 2012, Indonesia has carried out three rounds of executions, the last of which took place in July 2016. Four of 14 death row prisoners were executed, and legal experts in the country are still unsure why the other 10 had their deaths postponed.

Human Rights Watch and Gunawan say Amado technically has one more appeal round available to him, but that in the past the Indonesian government has carried out the death sentence in similar situations.

These two groups are not working closely with the other death row prisoners reportedly transferred recently, but like many international organisations they call for a stop to all executions in the country.

Amado has said in previous interviews that he wasinvolved in the storing of shabu, a local name for a drug similar to crystal meth, but that since his arrest in 2009, he has seen that the Indonesian justice system is marked by abuse and corruption.

In 2011, US government representatives said they would not intervene in the case.

Neither the US embassy in Jakarta nor the Indonesian attorney general's office immediately responded to requests for comment.

Source: Indonesia transfers US citizen to 'execution island'