Families were granted last visits on Thursday as execution loomed for six Nigerians and eight others on death row for drug trafficking in Indonesia.
Ambulances carrying coffins and more than 1,000 armed police have arrived at Indonesia’s death island prison where preparations are being made for the latest round of drug crime executions.
The Asian country has rebuffed appeals from distraught relatives, rights advocates and foreign governments to abandon plans to execute 14 people.
A convoy of ambulances, most of them carrying coffins, arrived Thursday morning at the port town nearest to the Nusa Kambangan prison island, where the mostly foreign drug convicts will be executed by firing squads.
Officials began tightening security at the prison several days ago, with more than 1,000 police sent to Cilacap, the port town, and the island.
The European Union and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Indonesia to impose an immediate moratorium on executions and the Indian and Pakistani governments said they were making urgent efforts to save two nationals among the condemned.
Indonesia has not released an official list of those to be executed but the country’s attorney-general said 14 people would be put to death.
Community Legal Aid Institute, which is involved in some of the death row cases, has given names for four Indonesians, six Nigerians, two Zimbabweans, one Indian and one Pakistani.
Lawyers and rights groups have raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the convictions in several of the drug cases, including that of Nigerians Michael Titus Igweh and Humphrey Jefferson.
Muhammad Rum, a spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney-general, said the executions are the “implementation of our positive laws” and will not be delayed or stopped.
All the cases have gone through a long legal process including appeals, he said. “They all have been given chances at all stages.”
The foreign ministry also defended the use of capital punishment and the legal process.
In Cilacap, the sister-in-law of Igweh said his Indonesian wife was returning to Indonesia from Nigeria in the hope she would be able to see him a final time.
“We will keep fighting to seek justice for our family,” said the relative, Nila, who used one name. “Michael is not alone. He has a wife, kids.”
The Indonesian government says the death penalty is necessary for drug crimes because the country is facing a drug epidemic, particularly affecting young people.
But critics argue capital punishment is not an effective deterrent and some have also questioned the accuracy of the government’s drug abuse statistics.
It would be the third set of executions under President Joko Widodo, who campaigned on promises to improve human rights.
His two-year-old administration will have executed more people than were executed in the previous decade.
In 2015, Indonesia executed 14 convicts in a move that drew criticism from the UN and the EU.
