By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Death row inmates on an Indonesian penal island were placed in isolation cells Saturday, with some of the 10 drug convicts being notified that they could be executed as early as Tuesday.
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were informed Saturday that they may face a firing squad in a minimum of 72 hours on Nusa Kambangan island, according to the Australian Associated Press.
After visiting the "Bali Nine" duo, their lawyer Julian McMahon returned with three self-portraits by Sukumaran -- one dated April 25 and with the inscription "72 hours just started."
Meanwhile, Rappler reported that Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso could be executed Tuesday.
Her sister Marites told Rappler that after she and other family members -- including Mary Jane’s 6- and 12-year-old sons -- visited Nusa Kambangan ealier in the day, Mary Jane called to say she had been notified of her execution date.
A lawyer for convicted Nigerian smuggler Raheem Agbaje Salami said the 10 inmates – including nine foreigners – had been placed in isolation cells, suggesting their executions appeared imminent.
The Jakarta Post quoted Utomo Karim as saying that foreign embassy officials and relatives of the inmates had been informed of the move during a meeting at the Prosecutor's Office in Cilacap, near Nusa Kambangan in Java.
Karim, who had represented a Brazilian who was included in a previous round of executions in January, said that executions are usually held three days after notifications.
However, a French national has reportedly been granted a temporary reprieve from execution.
Fairfax Media quoted Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir as saying that Serge Atlaoui, 51, had an ongoing legal case before the Administrative Court, and that the French Embassy had not been among those summoned to Cilacap.
The father-of-four was arrested in 2005 in an ecstasy laboratory near Jakarta, which he claims he thought was an acrylics factory where he was installing machinery.
Attorney General spokesman Tony Spontana had earlier confirmed that Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry had invited the officials in preparation for the executions.
Spontana said Thursday that the date of execution for the nationals from seven different countries would be set Monday once a final appeal by an Indonesian drug trafficker is known, according to Indonesian website detik.com.
Indonesia, which gives prisoners at least three days notice before execution, has said it will wait until all appeals have been exhausted before the ten face the firing squad.
Rappler reported that Veloso has asked her sister and brother to take her body back to the Philippines after the execution.
Her mother Celia said, “my daughter is so strong. She said she has accepted her fate. I feel a bit better because I saw that she's doing okay.”
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has released a statement saying that Indonesian authorities had told Australian embassy officials that the executions of Sukumaran and Chan “will be scheduled imminently.”
“Nothing can be gained and much will be lost if these two young Australians are executed,” she said.
“Australia asks no more of Indonesia than it has asked of other nations where Indonesian citizens on death row have been granted clemency, including for serious drug offences.”
The other inmates who are set to be executed are: Martin Anderson from Ghana, Rodrigo Gularte (Brazil), Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), and Raheem Agbajee Salami, Okwudili Oyatanze and Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise (Nigeria, although Salami is travelling on a Spanish passport).
