: 9:39amAccording
to a report on Fairfax Media/SMH, a Nigerian man who is facing
execution in Indonesia within days tearfully told a court that police
electrocuted his genitals to force him to confess to possessing heroin.
Michael
Titus Igweh, a clothe importer is among several prisoners on death row
whom lawyers and human rights groups are frantically lobbying to save
from the firing squad amid claims they were tortured and their legal
cases riddled with corruption, errors and miscarriages of justice.
"I
was constantly beaten, and my genitals electrocuted until I was
helpless," the clothes importer, who was sentenced to death in 2003 for
possessing 5.8 kilograms of heroin, told the Tangerang District Court.
"In fact, I was threatened to be shot."
The third wave of
executions in Indonesia could be held within days. It is understood the
Nigerian and Pakistani embassies have now been notified that their
nationals are among those to be killed
Indonesian
Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo reiterated on Friday, July 22, the
executions would be "soon" and would include Indonesians and possibly a
woman. Mr Prasetyo had earlier said prisoners from Nigeria and Zimbabwe
would be among those targeted.
Indonesian human rights group
Imparsial said an anti-death penalty coalition would present the staff
of Indonesian President Joko Widodo with a list of about seven death row
prisoners who had faced unfair trials and miscarriages of justice.
"It
is very dangerous to carry out executions when the legal system is
fragile and riddled with corruption, error, manipulation and collusion,"
Imparsial executive director Al Araf said.
Meanwhile, the
Supreme Court last week rejected an application for a case review into
the case of Mr Igweh. His lawyer, Sitor Situmorang, told Fairfax Media
that Supreme Court judges should try cases based on the law and not to
achieve popularity or appear tough.
"We accepted Michael's case
because we saw it had merit. Out of the many requests from prisoners on
Nusakambangan, we only took this," Mr Sitor said.
He said Mr
Igweh's conviction was based on the testimony of two alleged
accomplices, Marlena and Izuchukwu Okoloaja, who died in police custody
and could therefore not testify in court.
"We believe Marlena and
Okoloaja gave Michael's name just so the police would stop torturing
them," he said. "They were healthy when they were arrested, they had no
history of illness, they all just suddenly died while in police custody.
We all know what that means."
In a further ominous sign the
executions could be just days away, prison visits have this week been
suspended to the penal island of Nusakambangan, where the prisoners will
be strapped to wooden posts and shot in a field.
Fourteen drug
offenders were executed in Indonesia last year, including Australians
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, sparking an international backlash.
However the Indonesian government insists executions are necessary to combat a so-called drugs emergency.
"The
public want it to be done soon," Attorney-General Prasetyo said on
Friday. "We are getting more informed now and can see how drugs have
affected our younger generation. We could just lose a generation."
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