Death By Zoom: Virus-hit Indonesia Orders Executions Online

Jakarta, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Apr, 2021 ) :Indonesia has sentenced scores of prisoners to death over Zoom and other video apps during the pandemic in what critics say is an "inhumane" insult to those facing the firing squad.

The Southeast Asian nation turned to virtual court hearings as Covid-19 restrictions shut down most in-person trials, including murder and drug trafficking cases, which can carry the death penalty.

Since early last year, almost 100 inmates have been condemned to die in Indonesia by judges they could only see on a television monitor, according to Amnesty International.

The Muslim-majority nation has some of the world's toughest drug laws and both Indonesian and foreign traffickers have been executed, including the masterminds of Australia's Bali Nine heroin gang.

This month, 13 members of a trafficking ring, including three Iranians and a Pakistani, learned via video that they would be shot for smuggling 400 kilograms (880 Pounds) of methamphetamine into Indonesia.

And on Wednesday a Jakarta court sentenced six Islamist militants to death using a video app over their role in a 2018 prison riot that left five members of Indonesia's counter-terror squad dead.

"Virtual hearings degrade the rights of defendants facing death sentences -- it's about someone's life and death," said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid.

"The death penalty has always been a cruel punishment. But this online trend adds to the injustice and inhumanity," he added.