Nigeria Summons Indonesian Ambassador Over Executions

Jakarta Globe & Reuters, Jan 19, 2015

Ambulances bring coffins for the drug convicts who were executed at
Nusakambangan prison on Sunday at midnight. (Antara Photo/Idhad Zakaria)

Abuja, Nigeria. Nigeria has summoned Indonesia’s ambassador over the execution of two of its citizens by firing squad for drug trafficking, echoing protests from Brazil and the Netherlands which also each had one of their nationals executed.

Six people were executed on Sunday, including one Indonesian and inmates from Nigeria, Malawi, Vietnam, the Netherlands and Brazil, the Attorney General’s Office said. They were the first executions under Joko Widodo’s presidency.

The Nigerian government, however, has claimed two of its citizens were executed. Amnesty International has also reported Daniel Enemuo and Namaona Denis, who were both killed over the weekend, were from Nigeria.

“The Federal Government has received with huge disappointment the tragic news of the execution by firing squad of two Nigerians,” foreign ministry spokesman Ogbole Amedu Ode said in a statement on Monday, naming both citizens.

“The executions were carried out despite persistent pleas for clemency … The Federal Government seizes this opportunity to express its sympathy and condolences to the families of the deceased.”

Brazil and the Netherlands have both recalled their ambassadors from Jakarta, the second-most serious signal of displeasure a state can send without breaking relations or expelling a foreign power’s diplomats.

A spokesman for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was “distressed and outraged” after Indonesia ignored her last-ditch pleas and put to death Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, who was convicted of smuggling cocaine into Indonesia in 2004.

Nigeria, which uses the death penalty, although usually for more serious offenses than drug trafficking, summoned Indonesia’s envoy on Sunday.

An official from Indonesia’s foreign ministry said over the weekend that the executions were unlikely to damage diplomatic relations.

Indonesia’s attorney general has called on the international community to respect Indonesia’s laws, while Joko defended the executions on Facebook.

Meanwhile, two journalists from Brazil and Peru were arrested in Cilacap, Central Java, for reporting on the executions without the correct visa, according to a report from state-run news agency Antara.

The two journalists are reportedly being held at the Cilacap Immigration Center.

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