TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) expressed their rejection against the government's plan to carry out the third wave of executions, particularly for death row convict Merry Utami.
Komnas Perempuan chairman Azriana said that she had sent a letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo regarding the issue.
"What we expect from the President that he would postpone Merry's execution. She has been transferred to the Nusakambangan Prison. We suspect that she's on the list of the third wave of executions," Azriana said at her office in Jakarta on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.
Azriana hopes that President Jokowi would consider facts related to Merry's case presented by Komnas Perempuan. According to Azriana, Komnas Perempuan has found that the judge who issued the verdict for Merry missed the fact that Merry was a victim of human trafficking.
Merry was approached by a man named Jerry and involved in a relationship. Merry was then asked to go to Nepal to carry a bag of drugs as a sample. On October 31, 2001, Soekarno-Hatta officials found 1.1 kilograms of heroin in Merry's bag.
Sri Nurherawati, head of the legal and policy reform sub-commission said that three out of five death row convicts were arrested for cimilar cases.
Azriana said that most Indonesian women worked in the informal sector without proper protection and were prone to subtle recruitment. Azriana suggested that the government must recognize the link between human trafficking and drug syndicate recruitment.
AKMAL IHSAN | KS
