EXECUTION OF DRUG TRAFFICKERS IN INDONESIA

from Yahoo News Singapore

As of 2025, about 530 people, including 96 foreigners, were on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016. There has been an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty for drug trafficking since 2016, but Amnesty International said in a report the imposition of the death penalty jumped in 2020 with 101 out of the 117 new death sentences for drug-related offences.In 2025, the Indonesian government signalled it would resume executions. [Source: Firdia Lisnawati, Associated Press, June 3, 2025; Reuters, April 29, 2021]

Executions in Indonesia usually take place late at night outside the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java. The victims are shot simultaneously through the hear in pairs by a 12-man firing squad. Inmates are given 72-hours' notice and are kept in isolation, with only the company of their religious counselors. Family members have told CNN that family are allowed to visit in the days before the execution, but afterward, the only confirmation they get the sentence has been carried out is the sound of gunfire in the distance. [Source: Kathy Quiano, CNN, July 29, 2016]

As of 2003 none of foreigners had been executed. But some were executed after that. In August 2004, an Indian citizen who was sentenced to death in 1995 for drug smuggling was executed. This was the first time the death penalty was carried out since 2001, when two men convicted of multiple murders were executed. Two Thai nationals were executed for drugs offences in October 2004. Under the administration of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a total of 21 convicts were executed from 2005 to 2013.

According to a March 2012 study by Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy, Indonesia had 114 prisoners on death row. At that time five foreigners had been executed, all for drug crimes, according to the institute. In 2008, 10 people were put to death. After that there no executions until 2013. As of 2013, there were more than 40 foreigners on death row in Indonesia convicted of drug charges. [Source: Firdia Lisnawati, Associated Press, January 22, 2013]

Issues with the Death Penalty Being Used on Drug Offenders in Indonesia

'Bali Nine' (2006, top, L to R): Myuran Sukumaran, Scott Rush, Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Renae Lawrence; (bottom, L to R): Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephen and Andrew Chanrnz.co.nz

Although the death penalty, particularly for drug-related crimes, is widely criticised abroad, it is actually widely supported by the Indonesian population. However, there is no evidence that capital punishment for drug traffickers leads to fewer drug crimes in society.

Many point out that those who smuggle drugs are often not the key figures behind global drug trade networks. Instead, they are usually men and women who are desperate to earn a living and therefore accept the risky task of smuggling drugs into a country. In other cases, those caught carrying drugs were unaware of what they were doing because they had been tricked.

In addition, Indonesia's legal system can lead to innocent people being executed. For example, Zulfiqar Ali, a Pakistani citizen who is among those facing imminent execution for drug smuggling, was reportedly beaten by Indonesian police officers to 'encourage' a confession. Other reports claim that foreign prisoners are often denied an interpreter and/or lack access to consular services.

Two Nigerians Executed in Indonesia for Drugs in 2008

In June 2008, two Nigerians convicted of drug smuggling were executed by firing squad. Samuel Iwachekawu Okoye and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa were executed before midnight on on Nusakambangan prison island, which is off the coast of central Java. Nigeria's government, which asked Indonesia 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. [Source: Reuters, June 27, 2008]

Reuters reported: “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 of Nusakambangan after the executions.

According to AFP: “The executions were timed to mark the UN anti-drugs day, Indonesia's anti-narcotics agency reportedly said. The two men, aged 37 and 40, have been held at a high-security prison on Nusakambangan island, since their conviction for trying to smuggle seven kilograms (16 pounds) of heroin into Indonesia. "A firing squad of 12 people executed them in an outdoor area some three kilometers [2 miles] away from their prison," provincial prisons chief Bambang Winahyo told AFP “The two had made pleas for clemency to the president in 2004, but they were turned down.

18 Nigerians Faced Execution In Indonesia in 2010

In April 2010, Nwabueze Okonkwo wrote: Eighteen Nigerians who were condemned to death by the Indonesian judiciary in 2008 for their alleged various criminal offences, including drug peddling and other related offences, may be executed in Indonesia between June and August, this year. [Source: Nwabueze Okonkwo, Onitsha, April 30, 2010

“The convicts had been slated for execution in Indonesia on September 28, 2008, shortly after the Ramadan feast of Indonesians, but Nigeria’s high powered delegation, comprising the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora and some Senators visited Indonesia and opened discussions between the Nigerian and Indonesian governments on the fate of the convicts.

“The Indonesian government had condemned a total of 21 Nigerians to death, sentenced four to life imprisonment and eight others to various jail terms, ranging from 11 to 18 years. Out of the 21 condemned Nigerians, two of them, Samuel Iwuchukwu Okoye, and Hassan Anthony Nwaolisa, had already been executed on June 28, 2008, while another, Augustine Celo Ogbonna, died in prison custody in September, 2008.

Five Drug Traffickers Executed in 2013

Five convicted drug traffickers were executed between March and November 2013. The last one, a Pakistani man named Muhammad Abdul Hafeez was executed by firing squad at a cemetery on the southern outskirts of Jakarta. AAP reported: “The Indonesian Attorney-General's Office had already announced it would execute at least 12 people this year, in a move seen as departure from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's previous statements that suggested Indonesia was moving away from capital punishment. Hafeez, 44, was sentenced to death in 2001 for attempting to smuggle more than a kilo of heroin into Indonesia. [Source: AAP, November 19, 2013]

“The execution of the Pakistani came amid rising nationalism ahead of next year's presidential elections and increased tensions between Jakarta and Canberra over the spying scandal. A spokesman for the Attorney-General's Office, Setia Untung Arimuladi, said more executions would be scheduled. "Concerning those on death row for drug offences who have not yet been executed, it is because, among other reasons, there are convicts who are still seeking legal recourse, such as appeals to demand a case review," he said.

In 2012, Indonesia sentenced 113 people to death for various offences, mostly for drug offences and murder. Those facing the death penalty in Indonesia are commonly given just 72 hours notice of their execution date.

President Joko Widodo Orders Police to Kill Drug Traffickers

Joko Widodo, the seemingly mild-mannered President of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024, stepped up Indonesia’s war on drugs backed by firey rhetoric and dodgy statistics and reasoning. Shortly after he took office in October 2014, he declared drug abuse a “national emergency” and denied clemency appeals from more than 60 death row inmates. ““Every day we have 50 people die because of narcotics, of drugs,” Widodo told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “In one year, it’s 18,000 people who die because of narcotics. We are not going to compromise for drug dealers.”

Amnesty International said the first executions under President Widodo took office in November 2014 and were "a retrograde step" for human rights. Indonesia's Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo has said there is no excuse for drug dealers and, "hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect." Prasetyo said the new government had a firm commitment to fight against drugs. "What we do is merely aimed at protecting our nation from the danger of drugs," Prasetyo told reporters that drug trafficking rings have spread to many places, including remote villages where most victims are youngsters of productive age. Indonesia has become the largest drug market in Southeast Asia with 45 percent of the region's drugs in circulation. [Source: Associated Press, January 18, 2015]

In July 2017, Indonesia President Joko Widodo ordered law enforcement officers to shoot drug traffickers in an effort to address the country's narcotics emergency. "Be firm, especially with foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Shoot them because we are indeed in a state of emergency now,” he said in a speech. His remarks drew comparisons to those of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who launched a brutal anti-drug crackdown about a year ago that resulted in the deaths of many alleged drug dealers. Indonesia also has strict anti-drug laws. [Source: Reuters, July 22, 2017]

Widodo has previously been criticized for ordering the execution of convicted drug traffickers who were sentenced to death by a court. Widodo's 2017 order to shoot came a week after Indonesian police shot and killed a Taiwanese man in a town near the capital, Jakarta. Police said the man was killed for resisting arrest while trying to smuggle one ton of crystal methamphetamine into the country. Following the incident, Indonesian National Police Chief Tito Karnavian told the media that he had ordered officers not to hesitate to shoot drug dealers who resist arrest.

Fourteen Drug Traffickers Executed by Firing Squad in 2015

Fourteen drug convicts were executed by firing squad in 2015, six in January and another eight in April. On those in January, Associated Press reported: Indonesia executed five foreigners and an Indonesian woman convicted on drug trafficking charges despite appeals to spare them, with the government defending the action as necessary to combat the rising drug trade. Four men from Brazil, Malawi, Nigeria and the Netherlands and the Indonesian woman were shot to death simultaneously in pairs just after midnight, several kilometres from a high security prison on Nusakambangan island. The other woman from Vietnam was executed in Boyolali, according to Attorney General Office's spokesman Tony Spontana. Both areas are in Central Java province. [Source: Associated Press, January 18, 2015]

“Their bodies were brought from the island by ambulances a few hours after the executions either for burial or cremation, as requested by relatives and representatives of their embassies. “President Joko Widodo in December rejected their clemency requests. He also refused a last-minute appeal by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the Dutch government to spare their countrymen — Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, and Ang Kiem Soe, 52, who was born in Papua but whose nationality is Dutch.

“Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in a statement he had temporarily recalled the country's ambassador to Indonesia and summoned Indonesia's representative in The Hague to protest Ang's execution. He said it was carried out despite King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister Mark Rutte personally contacting Widodo. He called the execution "a cruel and inhumane punishment ... an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity."

“Brazilian Moreira was arrested in 2003, after police at Jakarta airport found 13.4 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his hang glider. A second Brazilian national, Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte, remains on death row in Indonesia, also convicted of drug trafficking.Ang was arrested near Jakarta in 2003, after police found equipment which they estimated had been producing 15,000 ecstasy pills a day for three years. Police confiscated 8,000 pills and thousands of dollars. The others who were executed were Namaona Denis, 48, from Malawi; Daniel Enemuo, 38, from Nigeria, and Indonesian Rani Andriani. Tran Bich Hanh of Vietnam asked authorities to let her face the firing squad uncuffed as one of her last wishes, Spontana said.

Three Africans and One Indonesian Executed by a Firing Squad for Drugs in 2016

In July 2016, Indonesian authorities executed four people by firing squad on the remote Nusa Kambangan island (part of the Central Java province): two Nigerians, one Senegalese,and one Indonesian, all convicted of drug trafficking. This was the third round of executions in Indonesia under President Joko Widodo, who was in power from 2014 to 2024 and took a much tougher stance on drug-related crimes than his predecessors, [Source: Indonesia Investment, October 24, 2016]

Heavy rain meant family members and lawyers on the island didn't hear any gun shots fired. Ricky Gunawan, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said family members found out about the executions from news reports. "No prosecutors, no one came out to explain what was happening," he said. [Source: Kathy Quiano, CNN, July 29, 2016]

Indonesia’s deputy attorney general Noor Rachmad told reporters outside the Nusakambangan prison: “"It was not a pleasant thing to do but it was to implement the law," he told reporters. "The executions are... aimed at stopping drug crimes."

Originally 10 foreigners were set to be executed: four from Nigerian (Humphrey Ejike, Eugene Ape, Ekpere Dike Ole Kamma, and Frank Chidebere Nwakome), two from Malaysia (Lee Chee Hen and Tham Tuck Yin), two from the U.S. (Frank Amado, and Lim Jit Wee), one from Zimbabwe (Federik Luttar) and one from Senegal (Seck Osmane). With the exception of Senegal, all of those set to be executed are from countries where the death penalty is still practiced. Some have speculated that might be to shield Indonesia from the same kind of criticism the government received during the last round of executions from countries such as Australia where the death penalty has been abolished. [Source: Coconuts, April 7, 2016]

Amnesty International reported that 10 more prisoners—including Indonesians and foreign nationals from Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Nigeria—remain on death row. Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve after evidence emerged that she may have been a victim of human trafficking. Veloso, who was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 with 2.6 kilogram of heroin in her suitcase, had been granted a stay of execution in April 2015 after the woman she claims set her up “voluntarily surrendered” to police.

Issues Involving Men executed for Drugs in 2016

The four executed men were put to death after their appeals were rejected. One of the Nigerians was Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke , who was unjustly killed, according to his legal team. His lawyer claimed there was evidence of torture, an unfair trial, and racial bias in the court’s decision, expressing deep disappointment that the government proceeded despite ongoing legal concerns. Eleweke was arrested in 2003 after the police found heroin at a restaurant he ran in Jakarta, the capital; he said an employee had planted it. His lawyers say that the police beat him until he confessed. [Source: Joe Cochrane, New York Times, August 13, 2016]

Diplomatic complications also arose in the case of the Senegalese prisoner. Cheikh Niang revealed that the individual was actually Nigerian but had entered Indonesia using a false passport. He said he had informed Indonesian authorities of this discrepancy after visiting the prisoner prior to the execution. The Indonesian put to death, Freddy Budiman, quoted as saying that he had paid senior law enforcement officials more than $40 million to let his drug smuggling operation continue before he was arrested. [Source: Joe Cochrane, New York Times, August 13, 2016]

Legal advocates also raised urgent appeals. Zulfikar Ali had a clemency petition filed on his behalf, while rights groups warned that continuing executions would only deepen injustice. Ali has been on Indonesia’s death row since 2005, after he was convicted of heroin trafficking. A government-ordered inquiry later found that he was probably innocent. [Source: Joe Cochrane, New York Times, August 13, 2016]

Joe Cochrane wrote in the New York Times: “Mr. Ali, who immigrated to Indonesia in 2000, was accused of drug dealing in 2004 by a friend, Gurdip Singh, who had been caught with heroin; Mr. Singh later said the police had pressured him and offered a reduced sentence to name accomplices. Mr. Ali’s lawyers say their client was arrested without a warrant at his home, where no drugs were found, and signed a confession after being beaten so badly in custody that he needed two operations.

“Though Mr. Ali retracted his confession and Mr. Singh withdrew his accusation, both men were sentenced to death in 2005. But the severity of Mr. Ali’s beating drew attention to the case, and the government ordered an unusual inquiry, which concluded that he was likely to be innocent. The government never acted on those findings, and Mr. Ali and Mr. Singh were among those who nearly faced a firing squad. “He was never involved in drugs,” Mr. Ali’s wife, Siti Rohani, who lives in West Java Province with their three children, said in an interview.

Bali Nine

The Bali Nine is the name given to a group of nine Australians arrested on April 17 2005, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, in a plan to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin valued at approximately A$4 million from Indonesia to Australia. Andrew Chan, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Myuran Sukumaran, all aged between 18 and 28 at the time of their arrests, faced the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. [Source: Wikipedia]

On February 13, 2006, Lawrence and Rush, the first of the nine to face sentencing, were sentenced to life imprisonment. The following day, Czugaj and Stephens were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the group ringleaders, Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death via firing squad; the first ever death sentences imposed by the Denpasar District Court. The remaining three, Norman, Chen and Nguyen were all sentenced to life imprisonment on February 15, 2006. On 26 April 2006, Lawrence, Nguyen, Chen, and Norman had their sentences reduced to 20-year sentences on appeal, while the life sentences for Czugaj and Stephens were upheld. Prosecutors launched appeals against the reductions in sentences.

According to the New York Times: “The men admitted their guilt, but their lawyers said the judge in the case was corrupt, having offered a lesser sentence in exchange for a bribe. Indonesia rejected appeals by the Australian government to spare them, and Australia withdrew its ambassador in protest. [Source: Joe Cochrane, New York Times, August 13, 2016]

Chan and Sukumaran were executed in April 2015. The five remaining members of the “Bali Nine” drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, back to Australia in 2025, after Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto’s administration repatriated them. [Source: The Telegraph, June 4, 2025]

Execution of the Two Bali Nine Members

In April 2015, the Indonesian government executed by firing squad eight people for drug offences, including two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumuran, who were members of the Bali Nine and the subject of a years-long campaign for clemency. Also executed were four Nigerians, a Brazilian (who had been deemed mentally ill) and an Indonesian. All had been convicted of drug crimes. A ninth prisoner scheduled to face the firing squad, Filipino woman Mary Jane Veloso, received a last-minute temporary reprieve. [Source: Michael Safi and Dina Indrasafi in Cilicap, The Guardian,28 April 2015]

The Guardian reported: “The killings were carried out at 12.30am, local time, on the prison island of Nusa Kambangan off the coast of Java. Chan’s brother, Michael, said after the execution he had “just lost a courageous brother to a flawed Indonesian legal system”. “I miss you already RIP my Little Brother,” he tweeted. The Australian pair’s Indonesian lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, also expressed sorrow on Twitter, writing, “I am sorry” and “I failed. I lost”.

Hundreds had gathered at the port of Cilacap to watch lawyers and families make their final visits to the prisoners. Police were forced to use dogs to clear the heavy media pack when Chan’s and Sukumaran’s visibly distressed relatives arrived. Sukumaran’s sister, Brintha, collapsed in the melee and had to be carried into the port office by her father, Sam.

“Speaking after their visit, Sukumaran’s brother, Chinthu, again urged Indonesia to show mercy. “Please don’t let my mum and my sister have to bury my brother,” he said. Through tears, his mother, Raji, said: “I won’t see my son again and they are going to take him tonight and shoot him and he is healthy and he is beautiful and he has a lot of compassion for other people.

Tarred as thugs for years after their capture, on death row the pair underwent sincere transformations, Chan converting to Christianity and Sukumaran emerging as an accomplished artist. Sukumaran continued to paint up until his last day, producing a rendering of a human heart signed by each nine of the prisoners who were scheduled to be shot. It was titled, “One heart, one feeling in love”.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources:“Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; “Culture and Customs of Indonesia” by Jill Forshee, Greenwood Press, 2006; National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, Indonesia Tourism website (indonesia.travel), Indonesia government websites, Live Science, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated April 2026