[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 13


INDIA/INDONESIA:

Appeal to spare death-row Indian


India has asked Indonesian authorities to spare the life of an Indian who
is facing a firing squad for drug trafficking.

Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey was sentenced to death in 1995 for trying to
smuggle 12 kg of heroin into the country. He is expected to be the 1st
drug trafficker executed here in recent years.

K.B. Mathur, in-charge of consular affairs at the Indian embassy here,
said the embassy had written to the attorney-general's office asking to
spare Chaubey. Mathur did not say why Chaubey, 67, should not be executed.
"We're just making a request. Maybe they can reconsider," he told AFP.

Attorney-general Muhammad Abdurrachman was quoted by Antara news agency as
saying the embassy had argued that Chaubey was too old to be put to death.

He said the request had no bearing on the planned execution. "The
policemen who will carry out the execution are ready to do so. We are only
waiting for the D-day," Abdurrachman said.

(source: Agence France Presse)