“BALI NINE” : Nigeria Pleads For Mercy

The three Nigerians on death row in Indonesia; L-R, Raheem Agbaje Salami, Silvester Obiekwe and Okwudili Ayotanze

The Nigerian government on Monday urged Indonesia to spare the lives of three of its citizens facing execution after being convicted of drug trafficking there.

The three Nigerians are on death row in a country with some of the toughest drug laws in the world, having lost their appeals in Indonesian courts against their convictions.

A senior official in the Nigerian foreign ministry, Danjuma Sheni, conveyed the country's plea for clemency to the Indonesian ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan (L) receving letter of Credence from Indonesia Ambassador, H.E. Harry Purwanto at the State House Abuja on Tuesday, 3rd March 2015

"We... are very aware of the consequences of drug trafficking in your country, but we still want to put it on record and we still want to appeal to you and to your president to temper justice with mercy," Sheni told the envoy during a meeting.

Sheni said Nigeria was aware that the three convicted nationals had gone through Jakarta's judicial process "and their appeals to the president have been turned down."

From left, Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. Bottom row from left. Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise

He added that one of the three, Raheem Agbaje Salami, had been moved to an island and could be executed at "any moment".

"We want to appeal to you and through you to your government that this death sentence that may be carried out on Salami any moment from now should be converted to life imprisonment," said Sheni, the ministry's permanent secretary.

The Indonesian ambassador promised to pass Abuja's plea for mercy on to Jakarta for consideration.

Drug convicts from Australia, France, Brazil, the Philippines and Ghana are also currently facing execution in Indonesia despite repeated appeals for mercy from foreign governments.

A ferry transports visitors to Nusakambangan prison island (in background), located in central Java, Indonesia, on February 26, 2015, home to the high-security prison

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, officially still has the death penalty but it is rarely implemented.

The last known executions took place in June 2013 when southern Edo state ignored pleas by Amnesty International and other rights groups and executed by hanging four prisoners convicted of armed robbery or murder.

They were the first such executions in the country in seven years.

Nigeria has for many years been a transit point for the drug trade into and out of West Africa.

More than 8,000 suspected drug traffickers, including women, were arrested across in the country last year, a spokesman of the nation's anti-drug agency, Mitchell Ofoyeju, told AFP.