The government of Indonesia has defended the execution of eight people, including four Nigerians, convicted for drug offenses.
The country’s Attorney-General, Muhamad Prasetyo, said Indonesia is wagging war against horrible drug crimes that threatens the nation’s survival.
He added that while execution is not a pleasant thing, it must be done in order to save the nation from the danger of drugs.
“We are not making enemies of countries from where those executed came,” Prasetyo said.
The convicts were shot by firing squad along with one Indonesian, despite strident foreign appeals and pleas from family members.
All the condemned men reportedly refused blindfolds and sang hymns, among them “amazing grace”, as they went to face the firing squad in a jungle clearing.
As the clock ticked down to midnight, a group of tearful supporters also sang hymns, embraced and held candles aloft, during a vigil at the port in Cilacap, the gateway to the prison Island of Nusakambangan.
A Filipina originally set to be executed was however, given an 11th hour reprieve after a woman, who allegedly tricked her into ferrying drugs to Indonesia, turned herself in to the police in the Philippines.
