Indonesia to execute up to 15 people

Indonesian police say they are making preparations to execute up to 15 drug offenders.

executions

A paramilitary police officer is seen at the port opposite Nusakambagan Island Prison near Cilacap, Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Source: AAP

Up to 15 drug offenders will face the firing squad in the next round of executions in Indonesia, police say.

Despite increased speculation and concern about when the executions will to take place and how many will be killed, the country's attorney-general is refusing to confirm any details.

Central Java Provincial Police spokesman Liliek Darmanto told AAP this week they were planning to execute 15 people possibly "in the middle of this month".

It was a message reiterated by national police spokesman Agus Rianto, who said they had been told to prepare for executions.

However he could not confirm the number was 15.

Attorney-general spokesman Amir Yanto has said "the time and the number (of people to be executed) ... has not been determined yet."

Amnesty International says it's appalled to learn three prisoners on death row have been moved to Nusakambangan prison island over the weekend.

Nusakambangan was where Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, as well as six other men, were executed by firing squad on April 29 last year.

The relocated prisoners were sentenced to death in 2007 for attempting to smuggle benzodiazepine pills from Malaysia.

"The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that has no place in today's justice system," Amnesty International crisis campaigns co-ordinator Diana Sayed said in a statement on Wednesday.

Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan has said he doesn't want to see a repeat of the "drama" which occurred ahead of the Australians' executions last year, in which intense foreign media attention and diplomatic pressure was placed on Indonesia.

He has said the law stipulated Indonesia only needed to give three days' notice as to when an execution would take place.

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Source: AAP



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