CRIME: Indonesian Drug Convicts Get Buried (photos)

WAR AGAINST CRIME 

Indonesia brushed aside last-minute appeals yesterday and executed eight people including 4 Nigerians convicted of drug smuggling in their country. Photos of the dead being buried and details from their last minutes on earth have now been revealed.

According to the pastors who were with them in their final hours, reformed Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and their six fellow death row prisoners refused to wear blindfolds and were singing as they were executed by a 13-member firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The eight men chose to face their executioners and spent their last minutes of life praying, praising God and singing songs including Amazing Grace.

On Wednesday morning, Pastor Christie Buckingham - who read Chan and Sukumaran their last rites - said the eight death row inmates walked out onto the killing field singing religious songs in the moments before they were executed.

Pastor Buckingham said the men conducted themselves with 'dignity and strength until the end'. Another pastor, Karina de Vega, said it was a 'beautiful experience'.

'It was breathtaking. This was the first time I witnessed someone so excited to meet their God,' Pastor de Vega told Fairfax.

Nigerian Martin Anderson chose to be buried in the West Java town of Bekasi, and fellow Nigerian Raheem Agbaje, wanted to be buried in the East Java town of Madiun where he had been a prisoner. Indonesian Zainal Abidin is to be buried in Cilacap. The wishes of two other Nigerians — Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Okwudili Oyatanze — have yet to be made public.

Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo confirmed at a news conference hours after the deaths had been widely reported that each of the eight had been executed simultaneously at 12:35 a.m. (1735 GMT) by a 13-member firing squad. Medical teams confirmed their deaths three minutes later, he said.
"The executions have been successfully implemented, perfectly. All worked, no misses," he said of the deaths of two Australians, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian man.

Prasetyo also dismissed concerns that Indonesia had done long-term damage to bilateral relations through the executions. According to him:

"It's just a momentary reaction. What we're doing is carrying out court decisions."

He said that the message was "do not try to smuggle drugs in Indonesia, because we will be harsh and firm against drug-related crimes."