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No mercy ... Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. Picture: Supplied. Source: Supplied
INDONESIAN President Joko Widodo has ruled out issuing pardons for any drug convicts on death row, including two Australians being held in Bali.
Bali Nine inmates Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have had a clemency request before the president for more than two years.
“I will reject clemency request submitted by 64 death convicted of drugs cases,†President Jokowi said during a lecture at Gadjah Mada University on Tuesday.
According to Indonesian news website Kompas.com, President Jokowi said that most of the prisoners had “destroyed the future of the nationâ€.
Application denied ... Indonesian President Joko Widodo stands with his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at his swearing in ceremony in October. Picture: AP Source: News Corp Australia
He said the rejection of clemency served as “important shock therapy†for drug dealers, traffickers and users.
Mr Joko’s new policy will condemn Chan, Sukumaran and more than 60 other drug prisoners to the firing squad.
The comments come just a week after the president announced that five convicts would be executed by the end of the month.
However, it’s not known if the two Australians will be among those put to death.
Sources also cautioned that Jokowi’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had previously made promises about rejecting clemency bids.
Creative outlet ... Myuran Sukumaran, pictured inside Kerobokan Jail in Bali. His artworks were shown as part of a prison art exhibition earlier this year. Source: Supplied
“The president ordered authorities to carry out the legal process accordingly,†the co-ordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Tedjo Edi Purdjianto, was quoted on Thursday as saying on the Cabinet Secretariat’s website.
More than 60 people are sitting on death row in Indonesian prisons, but only five people have exhausted their legal appeals and they include foreigners, Tedjo said.
“They will be executed after a letter from the attorney-general is signed by the president,†he said.
Sukumaran and Chan were among nine Australian nationals arrested in April 2005 for their involvement in a plot to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
The other seven members of the Bali Nine, including the group’s sole female member, Renae Lawrence, were given sentences of either life or 20 years.
Sukamaran and Chan were sentenced to death on Febraury 14, 2006.