Indonesian cremates executed Nigerian drug convicts

The remains of one out of the three Nigerians who the Indonesian government executed in firing squad are said to have been cremated by that government which also vowed never to stop executing people on death row.

Michael Titus Igwe

 Indonesia executed four drug convicts Friday but 10 others due to face the firing squad were given an apparent reprieve in a confused process one lawyer condemned as a “complete mess”.

The executions on a remote prison island went ahead despite strong protests from international rights groups, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union who had urged Indonesia not to proceed.

Four inmates — three Nigerians and one Indonesian — were put to death just after midnight.

 One of the Nigerian prisoners was cremated hours later, while the bodies of the three others were being prepared for burial.

 Questions swirled about the handling of the process, which saw the other 10 prisoners slated for death — including from India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe — spared at the last minute.

Authorities did not give a reason for the reprieve, but the prison island where they were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other sentences were carried out.

But whichever reasons the Indonesian government gives in future for sparing six convicts from different countries and executing all three from Nigeria, respondents said do not only hold water, but also a confirmation of the country’s (Indonesia) total lack of respect and regard for Nigerian government.