Indonesia executes 4 drug convicts while sparing Gurdip Singh for now

Cilacap/New DelhiJuly 29:Indian convict Gurdip Singh was spared when Indonesian court executed four including three foreigners for drug crimes. Officials did not give a reason for the reprieve but said 10 more convicts would be executed at a later stage.Indian government is making a desperate attempt to save him
The prison island where they were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other sentences were carried out.

Duped by an agent into paying for what he believed was a work visa in New Zealand, Gurdip Singh, 48, was allegedly abandoned mid-journey in Indonesia.

He was convicted of smuggling drugs in 2004.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had phoned his family in Punjab yesterday to reassure them that she is doing her best to save him.

“We got a phone call from my father, he told me that he has lost all hope and now his dead body will return,” said his daughter, Manjit Kaur, who was barely three years old when Mr Singh migrated from India.

“His brother spoke with Sushma Swaraj’s staff this morning, we are pinning our hope on her,” says Kulwinder Kaur, Mr Singh’s wife.

“Our officials have met Gurdip Singh and the embassy has asked the government of Indonesia to look at all legal options,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup, adding that Mr Singh has the right to appeal to the President of Indonesia for clemency.

The executions were the first in the country since April last year when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including two Australians.

President Joko Widodo has defended dramatically ramping up the use of capital punishment, saying that Indonesia is fighting a war on drugs and traffickers must be heavily punished.

Noor Rachmad, deputy attorney general for general crimes, said the latest executions were “done not in order to take lives but to stop evil intentions, and the evil act of drug trafficking”.

He added that “the rest (of the executions) will be carried out in stages”, saying that the timings had not yet been decided.