France 'doing everything to keep Serge Atlaoui alive' on death row in Indonesia
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Version 0 of 1. The French president, François Hollande, said his country was doing “everything” it could to save a French man accused of drug offences in Indonesia from the firing squad, after he lost a final appeal against his death sentence on Monday. Serge Atlaoui, 51, was due to be executed alongside eight other drug offenders two months ago, but won a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure. Indonesian authorities agreed to let an outstanding appeal run its course. On Monday the state administrative court in Jakarta dismissed Atlaoui’s appeal, in which his lawyers argued that the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, had rejected the convict’s plea for clemency without proper consideration. Related: Indonesian court rejects Serge Atlaoui's final appeal against execution The court upheld its previous decision from April that it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the challenge to the clemency plea, which is typically a death row convict’s final chance to avoid execution. “It will be up to the lawyers to decide what other avenues to pursue,” Hollande said after a European summit in Brussels late on Monday. “France, without going into the legal debate, is doing everything to keep Serge Atlaoui alive,” he said. The execution in April of two Australians, a Brazilian, four Nigerians and an Indonesian sparked global anger. But Widodo insists convicted traffickers must be harshly punished, saying Indonesia is facing a crisis due to rising drug use. Atlaoui’s lawyers vowed they would continue fighting for his life: “We are not asking for him to be set free. We are just asking for his sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment.” Indonesian authorities signalled the execution would not happen during Islam’s holiest month, Ramadan, which ends mid-July in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Atlaoui, a welder, was arrested in 2005 in a secret drugs factory outside Jakarta. Authorities accused him of being a “chemist” at the site. But the father of four has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant. He was initially sentenced to life in prison but the supreme court increased the sentence to death on appeal. France has mounted a diplomatic campaign to save him, warning Jakarta of unspecified consequences if he is put to death and questioning Indonesia’s legal system, which has a reputation as deeply corrupt. After Monday’s decision France’s European affairs minister, Harlem Desir, said “the whole of the French diplomatic service” was being mobilised to save Atlaoui. Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world. Jakarta resumed executions in 2013 after a hiatus of several years and, since Widodo took office, 14 drug convicts, mostly foreigners, have been executed. |