In the preceding 18 months , the Tangerang District...

In the preceding 18 months , the Tangerang District Court handed down death sentences to 13 defendants for drug offences.
Another suspect is facing a life sentence, and will likely soon receive capital punishment as well.
Most of the defendants were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport as they attempted to smuggle drugs into the country from Pakistan, India and Thailand.
Three of those on death row are Indonesians: Deni Setiawan Maharwan, 28, Rani Andriani, 25 and Meirika Franola, 31. The others are five Nepalese, three Nigerians, one Zimbabwean and one Angolan. The one facing a life sentence is a Malawian.
Proscutors had requested life terms for Nigerians Samuel Iwu Chekwu Okeye, 30, Okwudili Ayotanze, 31, and Hansen Anthony Nwaliosa, 33, Zimbabwean, Ozias Sibanda, 33, and Angolan Thomas Daniel, 28, however they were all condemned to death. Okeye was condemned in July and the latter four on August 13.
"This is the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life," Ozias told The Jakarta Post after he heard the verdict.
"I was simply hoping to earn US$3,000 to feed my wife and my children, I dared to swallow 54 capsules containing 850 grams of heroin. Instead of obtaining money, I face death," he said behind the bars at the court building.
He said he could not sleep most nights, since prosecutors had repeatedly told him that he would likely be sentenced to death, even though the prosecutor himself had "only" sought a life sentence."Please, send my apology to my wife and children and to all Indonesians," he said, with his eyes close to tears.
The Tangerang District Court chief, Haogoaro Harefa, told the Post that the harsh sentences are being imposed in order to curb drug cases.
He said that none of the judges had received threats or been intimidated so far in connection with the verdicts.
"Instead we received numerous telephone calls and letters stating support and even an award from an NGO," Harefa said.
The House of Representatives' Commission II on legal affairs also praised the verdicts."We were surprised upon learning that the court had sentenced to death a dozen drug smugglers. We hope other courts will follow such brave decisions," Hamdan Zulvan, who led eight other Commission members, told the Post.
Unfortunately, he added, only one percent of drug traffickers are reached by the law.
The Chief of the Tangerang prosecutor's office Poerwosudiro stated that prosecutors had asked for the death sentence for only one defendant from 14 major drug cases handled by the office in the past 18 months.
"But as prosecutors, we are ready to execute the verdicts in case the convicts do not file further legal submissions. To execute the verdicts, of course, we have to await the instruction from the Attorney General's Office," he told the Post.
Meanwhile, human right lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis expressed scepticism that capital sentences would curb the number of drugs cases in the country.
Amid concern about drug abuse that had claimed many victims in the country, Todung said that although it was in order for judges to mete out the maximum punishment, he disagreed with the death penalty since it was against human rights principles.
He also regretted that such stern punishment had not reached real major drug traffickers.
"Those given the death penalty were only the couriers, not the real drug bosses.
"Is such punishment fair? The problem is that we have never seen a serious attempt or successful operation carried out against drug trafficking," he told the Post.