INDONESIA: DRUGS GANG OF 13 SENTENCED TO DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD

April 8, 2021:

Indonesia on 6 April 2021 handed death sentences to a gang of 13 drug traffickers, including an Iranian couple and a Pakistani man, the prosecutor’s office said.
Three Iranians, a Pakistani and nine Indonesians were ordered to be executed by firing squad for the gang’s role in smuggling about 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of methamphetamine, according to authorities.
The ruling was delivered by videolink late on 6 April in West Java’s Sukabumi city, where members of the drugs ring were caught last June, due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Iranian Hossein Salari Rashid led the smuggling plot, said Bambang Yunianto, head of the Sukabumi prosecutors’ office.
“There are four foreigners in the group with (Rashid) the mastermind of the crime. He was sentenced together with his wife,” Yunianto said.
This ruling was a record for the number of drug traffickers sentenced to death at one time in Indonesia, Amnesty International said.
It brought to 30 the number of people given the death penalty in the Southeast Asian nation this year, including several foreigners, the rights group said.
Most were drug trafficking cases, it added.