VZCZCXRO4101
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #3043/01 3041147
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 311147Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6878
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 1467
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 3514
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1950
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, DRL, S/CT, INL FOR BOULDIN 
NSC FOR EPHU 
DOJ FOR CRIM AAG SWARTZ, DOJ/OPDAT FOR 
LEHMANN/ALEXANDRE/BERMAN 
DOJ/CTS FOR MULLANEY, ST HILAIRE 
FBI FOR ETTUI/SSA ROTH 
NCTC WASHDC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KJUS SNAR CASC PTER ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT UPHOLDS DEATH 
PENALTY 
 
REF: JAKARTA 2939 
 
JAKARTA 00003043  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  In a highly anticipated October 30 ruling, 
the Indonesian Constitutional Court affirmed the 
constitutionality of capital punishment under Indonesian law. 
 The ruling came in a case involving two Indonesians and 
three Australians sentenced to death for narcotics 
trafficking.  The Court's urging that all summary death 
sentences "be carried out as soon as possible" has 
implications for other important cases, including the Bali 
bombers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (U) TWO PETITIONS:  Defense lawyers for three young 
Australians and two Indonesians petitioned Indonesia's 
Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the 
death penalty handed down in their sentences.  Separate 
petitions were filed for the Indonesian and the Australian 
defendants.  The petitions argued that capital punishment 
violated the right to life guaranteed in Indonesia's 1945 
constitution and was incompatible with international norms. 
The five are part of a group, dubbed the "Bali nine" by 
Australian media, who were arrested in Bali in April 2005 and 
convicted of drug offenses on the basis of a Indonesia's 1997 
narcotics law.  Of the nine, six were sentenced to death, two 
received life imprisonment and one was given a 20-year prison 
sentence.  The law indicates a range of penalties for 
narcotics offenses but specifies the death penalty for 
production and trafficking of drugs. 
 
¶4. (U) SPLIT DECISIONS:  The 6-3 decision, presented by Chief 
Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, addressed only the Indonesians' 
petition and was released in a 469-page document on October 
¶30.  The court rejected the Australians' petition on the 
grounds that foreigners had no legal position to contest the 
constitutionality of Indonesian laws.  The court noted, 
however, that other legal avenues, including appeal to the 
Supreme Court, remained open to the Australians.  In 
dissenting positions, three justices argued against the death 
sentence in principle.  Two justices held that capital 
punishment violated fundamental human rights, while a third 
justice argued that the social and legal objectives of the 
law could be achieved with other penalties short of capital 
punishment.  In a separate dissenting opinion, a different 
combination of three judges argued that the Australians were 
entitled to the same constitutional review as the Indonesians. 
 
¶5. (U) INTERNATIONAL PROTOCOLS:  The majority opinion also 
found that international protocols such as the International 
Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) allowed 
ratifying states to impose the death penalty.  "The right to 
life cannot be weakened, except by court decision," one 
justice explained in delivering his judgment, and in serious 
cases such as narcotics trafficking, the penalty was 
justified.  The majority opinion noted that abolition of 
capital punishment had not yet become a universally accepted 
norm. 
 
¶6. (SBU) IMPLICATIONS FOR BALI BOMBERS:  A finding for the 
defendants in this case could have invited a rash of appeals 
from others on death row.  As of the end of 2006, there were 
134 persons awaiting execution in Indonesia, according to the 
latest publicly available statistics.  Among these are the 
three Bali Bombers in central Java, whose legal appeal 
options have been exhausted (reftel).  The implications of 
the Court's recent decision for these other cases are 
significant.  Perhaps with that in mind, Chief Justice Jimly 
stated that "for the purposes of fairness, the Constitutional 
Court recommends that all those sentenced to death who have 
no further appeals available be executed as soon as 
 
JAKARTA 00003043  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
possible." 
 
HUME