(Reuters) – An Indonesian firing squad executed eight drug traffickers, including seven foreigners, in the early hours of Wednesday, sparking condemnation from Australia and Brazil who had made final, desperate pleas to save their nationals.
The mass execution cements the hard line on enforcing the death penalty adopted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo as part of his war on drugs, an approach criticized by the United Nations as applying double-standards.
Four Nigerians, two Australians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian were executed in a forest clearing near the prison, as family members held a candle-light vigil within earshot of the firing range.
“All eight were executed at the same second at 0035 hours,” Indonesian Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo told reporters in Calicap, off the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java.