AHRC: Indonesia Supreme Court should encourage judges not to impose death penalty

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Honourable Hatta Ali, Chief Justice of the Indonesian Supreme Court 

To commemorate this year's World Day against the Death Penalty which falls today, the Asian Human Rights Commission (the AHRC) is writing to you to express its appreciation to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the case regarding Mr. Hengky Gunawan, application number 39 K/Pid.Sus/2011.

We have received the information that, in such judgment, three of your judges have established that death penalty is a violation to the right to life which is guaranteed not only in the 1945 Constitution but also in various international human rights instruments.

We therefore wish to congratulate the institution you lead as well as the Honourable judges, Mr. HM Imron Anwari, Mr. Achmad Yamanie and Mr. HM Hakim Nyak Pa for the judgment as we believe it meets the international human rights standards on the protection of the right to life.

We are pleased that your institution perfectly understands that, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Indonesia and its officials at all governmental branches shall interpret the right to life in accordance with the standards established by the UN Human Rights Committee.

In its General Comment No. 6 on the Right to Life, the Committee expresses that the abolition of death penalty is strongly desirable and should be seen as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life. 

We note and appreciate the fact that your institution and the judges in Mr. Gunawan's case are aware that provisions under Article 6 paragraph (2) to (5) of the ICCPR should not be understood as basis to preserve and justify death penalty but, instead, to minimise the arbitrariness in the imposition of such punishment thus diminish the unintended negative consequences of it. Yours sincerely,

WONG Kai Shing
Executive Director - Asian Human Rights Commission

INDONESIA: Supreme Court should encourage judges not to impose death penalty — Asian Human Rights Commission