Indonesian court rejects death row Filipina’s appeal

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso

JAKARTA,  Indonesia–Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an application by a Filipina on death row for a judicial review of her case, taking her a step closer to being executed along with several other foreign drug convicts.

Aside from Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, two high-profile Australian inmates and convicts from France, Brazil, Ghana and Nigeria are set to face the firing squad after they recently had requests for presidential clemency rejected.

In her application for a judicial review, Veloso’s lawyers had reportedly argued that she was not provided with a capable translator during her first trial.

But the Supreme Court’s website said that judges on Wednesday rejected Veloso’s application for a review of her sentence. It did not provide details about the ruling and a court spokesman could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Veloso was caught at Yogyakarta airport, on the main island of Java, carrying 2.6 kilograms (5.73 pounds) of heroin on a flight from Malaysia.

Jakarta plans to execute all 10 of the convicts — nine foreigners and one Indonesian — at the same time, but has said it will wait for any outstanding legal appeals to conclude.

Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, leaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug-smuggling gang, as well as Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, currently have appeals that are working their way through the courts.

Chan and Sukumaran have lost two previous attempts to get judicial reviews of their cases, but their legal teams have lodged a further, rare appeal.

Indonesia  has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world, and President Joko Widodo has vowed there will be no clemency for traffickers on death row, as the country is facing an “emergency” due to rising narcotics use.

Jakarta put to death six drug convicts, including five foreigners, in January, sparking a diplomatic storm.