Frenchman faces execution for drug offences after Indonesian court rejects final appeal
Serge Atlaoui had been granted a last-minute reprieve while legal avenues were exhausted and was left out of a group of seven foreign prisoners who were executed in May
An Indonesian court has rejected a French national’s last-ditch appeal against the death sentence, making him the latest foreigner to face imminent execution for drug offences.
The administrative court in Jakarta said it could not overturn a presidential rejection of clemency for Serge Atlaoui, citing a lack of judicial authority.
His case has drawn national attention in France, which vigorously opposes the death penalty. Muslim majority Indonesia takes a hardline stance against drug crimes and resumed executions in 2013. So far this year it has executed 14 people convicted in drug cases. Officials justify the death penalty by pointing to the estimated 18,000 young Indonesians who die each year from drug use.
Presiding judge Ujang Abdullah said the court has no capacity to rule on the case since granting clemency is the prerogative right of the president.
“The President’s right to grant clemency is granted by the constitution while the authority of the Administrative Court is just to judge on decrees issued by administrative officials,” Abdullah said.
Lawyers for Atlaoui made the last-ditch appeal which had little chance of success after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo denied clemency in December. Prosecutors dismissed the legal manoeuvring as only an effort to buy time but did not try to block the appeal. Officials have been at pains to show Atlaoui was not denied any of his rights under Indonesian law.