Filipina spared execution at 11th hour

Apr 29, 2015

There were very different scenes in the Philippines after the late reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso.


CILACAP -   There were very different scenes in the Philippines after the late reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso, whose case attracted emotional appeals for mercy from boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao among others.

"Miracles do come true," her mother Celia told a Philippine radio station, adding that her daughter's two young boys were awake and yelling "Yes, yes, mama will live".

"The Lord has answered our prayers," Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Charles Jose said, as activists holding a vigil in front of the Indonesian embassy in Manila broke into cheers and hugged each other.

President Benigno Aquino said the entire country was grateful to Indonesia and thanking God for the last minute reprieve, his spokesman Herminio Coloma said.


Cesar Veloso (2nd L) and Celia Veloso (front R), the parents of Filipina drug convict and death row prisoner Mary Jane Veloso, are accompanied by embassy officials at the Cilacap river port of Nusakambangan after visiting the Nusakambangan maximum security prison island on April 26, 2015. Indonesia on April 26 signalled it was determined to push ahead with the execution of eight foreign drug convicts, despite a growing wave of global condemnation led by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD

Veloso was spared after someone suspected of recruiting her and tricking her into carrying drugs to Indonesia turned herself in to authorities in the Philippines.

Much less is known about the other four foreigners executed -- three of them are from Nigeria but it is not clear whether the fourth held Ghanaian or Nigerian nationality.

The execution of the Brazilian, Rodrigo Gularte, has generated much criticism in his homeland, with his family saying he suffered from schizophrenia and should not have faced the death penalty.



The two children of Filipina drug convict and death row prisoner Mary Jane Veloso, six year old Mark Darren (lower front C) and 12-year old Mark Daniel (C), along with Mary Jane's father Cesar Veloso (L), mother Celia Veloso (orange shirt behind Cesar) and sister Marites Veloso (red shirt at R) arrive in Cilacap accompanied by lawyers and embassy staff to visit Nusakambangan maximum security prison island located off central Java on April 25, 2015. Families of foreign drug convicts set to be hauled before the firing squad in Indonesia issued desperate mercy pleas on April 25, as relatives and diplomats descended on a prison island ahead of the looming executions.  AFP PHOTO / AZKA

The government was weighing its next move, acting Brazilian foreign minister Sergio Franca Danese said, describing the execution -- the second by Indonesia of one of its citizens this year -- as "a severe incident for bilateral relations."

Gularte's cousin was observed crying as she left the port of Cilacap, the gateway to the prison island, accompanied by a religious counsellor.

A Frenchman was originally among the group to be executed but he was granted a temporary reprieve after authorities agreed to allow an outstanding legal appeal to run its course.

France said it "reiterates its opposition to the death sentence in all cases and all circumstances".

Utterly reprehensible


Under Indonesian execution guidelines, the condemned convicts are led to clearings just after midnight, tied to posts and then given the option of kneeling, standing or sitting before being executed by 12-man firing squads.



An activist holds a placard with a portrait of Filipina drug convict and death row prisoner Mary Jane Veloso during a candlelight vigil outside the presidential palace in Jakarta on April 27, 2015. Authorities on April 25 gave formal notice to eight prisoners at the prison -- from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines -- that they would be executed by firing squad imminently, along with an Indonesian prisoner. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

President Joko Widodo has been a vocal supporter of the death penalty for drug traffickers, saying Indonesia is facing an emergency due to rising narcotics use.

He has turned a deaf ear to appeals from the international community, led by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Amnesty International condemned the executions as "utterly reprehensible" in a statement from research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rupert Abbott.

After the firing squad finished its work, ambulances carried coffins away from the island where the men were put to death. Some were shrouded in embroidery and others made of plain wood, an AFP reporter at the scene saw.

Australia's consul general to Bali, Majell Hind, who took custody of the bodies of Chan and Sukumaran, was seen departing Cilacap port with other consular officials in a tinted van.

Hind was tasked with delivering the news of the executions to the Chan and Sukumaran families, who are staying at a nearby hotel.

Executions part of 'war' on drugs


Indonesia's attorney general on Wednesday defended the execution of seven foreign drug convicts, saying that the country was facing a "war" against drugs. 

"We are fighting a war against horrible drug crimes that threaten our nation's survival," Muhammad Prasetyo told reporters in Cilacap, the gateway to the high-security prison island of Nusakambangan where the executions took place.

The seven convicts -- two from Australia, one from Brazil and four from Africa -- were put to death by firing squad early Wednesday, along with one Indonesian, despite strident international appeals and pleas from family members.

A Filipina originally set to be executed was given an 11th hour reprieve.

"I would like to say that an execution is not a pleasant thing. It is not a fun job," Prasetyo went on.

"But we must do it in order to save the nation from the danger of drugs. We are not making enemies of counties from where those executed came. What we are fighting against is drug-related crimes."

He also played down Australia's decision to recall its ambassador over the execution of its citizens, describing it as a "temporary reaction".

AFP


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