Indonesia Justice Minister on Monday said the country was preparing to execute convicts on death row for drug trafficking.
The minister, Yasonna Laoly, did not say how many prisoners would be executed or when.
“Basically, we are making preparations,’’ he said.
In 2015 Indonesia executed 14 convicts, all but two of them foreigners, in a move that drew international condemnation.
Local media reported that three drug convicts all Indonesian had been transferred from a prison on Batam Island to the prison island Nusakambangan, the site of 2015’s executions.
Report says among the foreigners on death row are British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford and Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, but it was not clear if they are among those scheduled to be put to death.
Amnesty International in 2015 said suspects facing the death penalty in Indonesia were often subjected to torture and sometimes denied access to lawyers and interpreters.
According to the Amnesty report, some of those sentenced to death said police had beaten them in detention to make them confess, and judges accepted the confession as evidence.
The justice ministry said that no fewer than 121 people were currently on death row in Indonesia, including 35 foreigners mostly convicted of drug-related crimes. (dpa/NAN)