Indonesia executes 8, 4 Nigerians on firing squad dismisses pleas

Indonesia has executed eight out of nine drug convicts by firing squad despite last-ditch appeals by

Australia’s foreign minister for a stay of execution so that claims of corruption during the trials of two Australian prisoners could be investigated.

The executions were carried out after midnight (17.30 GMT) at Besi prison on Nusakambangan Island on Tuesday, after the inmates were given 72-hour notice.

Over the weekend, authorities had asked the nine inmates, which included two Australians, four Nigerian men, one man each from Brazil and Indonesia and a Filipino woman for their last wishes.

However, the execution of the Filipina, Mary Jane Veloso, was delayed at the last minute after one of her recruiters surrendered to police in the Philippines, the attorney general’s spokesman told Reuters news agency late on Tuesday.

“The execution of Mary Jane Veloso has been postponed because there was a request from the Philippine president related to a perpetrator suspected of human trafficking, who surrendered herself in the Philippines,” Tony Spontana, spokesman for the attorney general, said.

“Mary Jane has been asked to testify.”

Earlier, Filipino migrants had rallied in Hong Kong on behalf of Velose – a 30-year-old mother of two, whose supporters said was tricked into into carrying a suitcase loaded with heroin.

Al Jazeera‘s Step Vaessen, reporting from Cilacap in Indonesia, said while there was an outpouring of joy among Filipinos that Velose had been spared, there would be a different reaction from Australia after Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas for clemency.

“The executions could call a diplomatic fallout between Australia and Indonesia just as they did earlier this year when the Netherlands and Brazil recalled their ambassadors after their nationals were killed,” she said.

Amnesty International condemned the executions, saying they showed a “complete disregard for due process and human rights safeguards.”

Fourteen people have now been put to death in Indonesia this year, and the government has announced plans for further executions this year.

The families of the Australian convicts had paid an anguished final visit to their loved ones on Tuesday, wailing in grief as ambulances, carrying empty white coffins, arrived at the prison.