Indonesia denies pressure from France

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has denied that pressure from France caused Frenchman Serge Atlaoui to be removed from a list of ten death row convicts who are to be executed this week.

AGO spokesman Tony T. Spontana told reporters on Wednesday that Atlaoui had been removed from the list because he had filed a lawsuit at the State Administrative Court against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s decision to reject his request for presidential clemency.

“It was not because of [pressure from] the French president. He filed a lawsuit on the deadline last Thursday at 4 p.m.,” he said.

Tony explained that the AGO respected the legal process but would immediately put Atlaoui back on the execution roster if the lawsuit was rejected, as it did with Bali Nine group members Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

Atlaoui was slated to be executed along nine other death row drug convicts this week. Although Tony denied that a date had been set for the executions, most of the convicts’ lawyers claimed they had received notification that the executions would be conducted on Tuesday.

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