CILACAP. Five death-row convicts in Nusa Kambangan, Central Java, are ready to be executed, says a cleric.

Chairman of the Cilacap chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Association (MUI), Hasan Makrim, who was asked to accompany the five convicts, said they were prepared to be executed by firing squad on Sunday to uphold the country’s law.

“All the five declared their readiness and nobody has protested the execution plan. They said they would abide by the Indonesian law,” he said at Wijayapura port on Friday.

Hasan said the five were physically and mentally healthy. “All are in a good health and Rani, a death-row convict from Cianjur, has been fasting and surrendered herself to the death sentence,” he said.

He explained that Rani, who was recently moved from the women’s prison in Tangerang, Banten, to Nusakambangan, had expressed her final request was to be buried near her mother’s grave in her home village in Cianjur.

The five and a Vietnamese woman, sentenced to death for drug trafficking, are scheduled to be executed on Sunday. The Vietnamese woman will be executed in Boyolali, while the other five will face the firing squad in Nusakambangan.

Since Friday, the seaport and the waters surrounding the island have been regularly patrolled to improve security in the run up to the execution. Only the convicts’ relatives and prison wardens have been allowed to enter the area.

Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Untung Sampurna said dozens of police personnel had been deployed to maintain security around the island and at the seaport.

A number of personnel from the Attorney General’s Office have also been deployed to maintain security on the island and inside the prisons on the island. (Agus Maryono)

Editor: Yudho Winarto