JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia's Supreme Court has turned down the final appeals by prisoners from France and Ghana who are among 10 drug convicts awaiting execution by firing squad, the court spokesman said Wednesday.
The appeals for judicial review by Serge Areski Atlaoui of France and Martin Anderson of Ghana were rejected by Indonesia's highest court in closed-door hearings Tuesday, said Suhadi, the court spokesman and a member of the three-judge panel.
"The Supreme Court judges saw that the previous verdict ... was very accurate, clear and complete," said Suhadi, who like many Indonesians uses a single name. "So we can say that there is no mistake."
Atlaoui and Anderson are among 10 drug smugglers whose planned executions last month were postponed due to last-minute appeals. The others are three Nigerian men, two Australian men, two men from Brazil and Indonesia, and a Filipino woman.
Appeals have been exhausted for all but one of the 10 -- Raheem Agbaje Salame of Nigeria, who is awaiting the outcome of his request for a judicial review.
The planned executions have soured relations between Indonesia and other countries. President Joko Widodo has vowed not to grant mercy to drug offenders because Indonesia is suffering a "drug emergency."
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande urged Indonesian authorities to grant clemency to Atlaoui. He said at a news conference that executing Atlaoui "would be damaging for the relations we want to have with Indonesia."
Hollande noted that France backs the abolition of the death penalty. "Justice is justice but the death penalty must not be pronounced in any country of the world," he said.
Jakarta executed six drug convicts, including five foreigners, in January, brushing aside last-minute appeals from Brazil and the Netherlands. More than 130 people are on death row in Indonesia, including 57 drug convicts.
