A Moratorium on the Death Penalty
President Joko Widodo should have the courage to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. With our legal system in chaos, there is a high probability that the wrong people can be victimized.
The case of Zulfiqar Ali is an example of the dangers of the death penalty. The Pakistani citizen was almost executed by firing squad on July 29 along with narcotics boss Freddy Budiman and his associates. But Zulfiqar was neither a courier nor a drug dealer. In 2004, he was arrested merely because he was a friend of Gurdip Singh and bought a Jakarta-Surabaya plane ticket. The official statement from Patrialis Akbar, the justice and human rights minister during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, that Zulfiqar was innocent, counted for nothing.
September 20, 2016
President Joko Widodo should have the courage to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. With our legal system in chaos, there is a high probability that the wrong people can be victimized.
The case of Zulfiqar Ali is an example of the dangers of the death penalty. The Pakistani citizen was almost executed by firing squad on July 29 along with narcotics boss Freddy Budiman and his associates. But Zulfiqar was neither a courier nor a drug dealer.
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