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CILACAP, Indonesia- Nine drug mule convicts, including Filipina worker Mary Jane Veloso, held grieving farewell meetings with their families for the last time at an Indonesian prison on Tuesday afternoon after Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas from around the world to spare them from executions and ordered imminent firing squad to proceed within hours.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi asserted that Indonesia’s position on the matter had already been made clear and it has not changed.
“We have conveyed all messages. We have conveyed the Attorney General’s [HM Prasetyo] statement that Indonesia’s stance on the executions will not change. So I think we will not discuss this matter again,” the minister said as quoted by Antara, when she accompanied Vice President Jusuf Kalla to attend a meeting of four heads of states in Langkawi, Malaysia, on Tuesday.
Indonesian authorities have not disclosed the specific time for executions, which are due to take place at a nearby clearing in a forest, but the last time a group of drug traffickers were executed earlier this year it was carried out at midnight.
The prisoners will be given the choice to stand, kneel or sit before the firing squad, and to be blindfolded. Their hands and feet will be tied.
Twelve marksmen are assigned to fire at the heart of each prisoner, but only three have live ammunition. Authorities say this is so that the executioner remains unidentified.
President Aquino made one last effort to spare Veloso from execution
Earlier, Aquino made one last-ditch appeal to spare Veloso’s life by proposing she could be a vital witness to identify drug mule syndicates.
“She does present an opportunity right now to be able to uncover all the participants and start the process of bringing them to the bars of justice,” Aquino told reporters in Malaysia, where he was attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders.
Veloso was arrested at Yogyakarta Airport after authorities discovered her possessing illegal drugs. A mother of two says she was framed and duped into bringing 2.6 kilograms of heroin inside her luggage by a Filipino friend who was also her recruiter.
Her lawyers said they filed complaint against another Filipina Christina Sergio, who they allege promised to the death-row inmate a job as a domestic worker in Indonesia but instead led her to become a drug mule.
On Tuesday, Sergio reportedly surrendered to Philippine police custody to protect herself against life threats she has been receiving from mobile phones and social media accounts.
“I’d say it’s a changing alibi,” Indonesia’s attorney-general, H.M. Prasetyo, told reporters.
“Now she says she’s a victim of human trafficking. I think these are just efforts to delay the execution. We have given her all legal avenues. Don’t force us to change. If we’re not firm, it means we’re weak in the war against drugs.”
On Monday, Congressman Manny “Pacman” Pacquaio made a televised personal appeal ,which Mary Jane’s mom requested to eight-Division world boxing champion earlier, in a live report to Widodo to save Veloso’s life.
