By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Two of the nine foreigners due to be executed in Indonesia will be transferred to the prison island where the sentences will be carried out within a week, the lead prosecutor in their case said Monday.
Chief Prosecutor Momock Bambang Samiarso, who has overseen the case of heroin traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, said they would be moved from Kerobokan prison in Bali to Nusa Kambangan, a 30 kilometer (18 mile) long island that houses seven prison facilities.
"The transfer will be this week,” he told the Detik news website. “We've got the transfer order from the attorney general."
Australians Chan and Sukumaran, members of the Bali Nine gang, and seven other drug convicts from Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, France, the Philippines and Spain, as well as an Indonesian, are due to be executed by firing squad on Nusa Kambangan, off the southern coast of Central Java province.
In a blow to those seeking clemency for the prisoners, President Joko Widodo on Monday reiterated his determination to execute the convicts, the Jakarta Post reported.
"I underline there is no clemency for drug dealers," Jokowi said in a speech to students at the state palace in Jakarta. He pointed out that no other countries could interfere in Indonesia’s sovereignty.
One prisoner, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso from the Philippines, is ready to be transferred on Tuesday, the Tempo online reported, citing Prosecutor Tri Subardiman in Yogyakarta, where she is currently held.
Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte is already thought to be at Nusa Kambangan.
Meanwhile, preparations at the island are gathering pace. On Sunday evening a detachment of naval commandoes began patrolling the waters around the island. A warship from the nearby naval base at Cilacap is also due to start patrols on Tuesday, according to sources at the base.
On Monday, Justice Ministry official Ahmad Yuspahruddin said renovation work to the execution chamber had been completed.
"We have completed the installation of partitions in the isolation room," Yuspahruddin told The Anadolu Agency. The executions had been held up due to the previously cramped conditions.
A nearby funeral home has reportedly prepared 10 coffins for the Cilacap police ahead of the planned executions.
The death row inmates will be held in one of the island's prisons before they are taken to Batu prison to be executed simultaneously during the night.
As a sign of the rising tension between Indonesia and Australia over the executions, an Australian business delegation led by Trade Minister Andrew Robb has been shelved, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A number of major events at the largest Indonesian festival in Australia have also been postponed.
The Herald also said Australian firms were delaying business with Indonesia due to uncertainty about any fallout after the executions.
