Cilacap, C Java (ANTARA News) - Death row inmate Zulfikar Ali, a Pakistani, who has been jailed for drug trafficking on Mani, was moved to Batu Prison on Nusakambangan Island after undergoing treatment at the Cilacap Regional Public Hospital for ill-health.

Police officers guarded Ali, who was taken on a wheelchair to an ambulance, which will transport him to Nusakambangan.

The Pakistani national was hospitalized for hepatitis, bronchitis, and liver complications. Ali was in tears as he left the hospital.

Ali has been jailed in Nusakambangan since April 30, 2016.

According to unconfirmed reports, Ali might be one of the inmates to face the firing squad in the third wave of executions to be carried out by the authorities.

Earlier, Merry Utami, a death row prisoner, was moved from the Tangerang prison in Banten, to the Nusakambangan Island off this southern Java coastal city.

Merry arrived at the Wijaya terminal here on Sunday morning under tight police cover to be ferried to the notorious island, where several death row drug convicts have been and would be executed.

Attorney General HM Prasetyo indicated that the executions of drug convicts on death row would be carried out soon.

"The Central Java police have also tightened security. They have agreed with us to ensure coordination," Prasetyo affirmed.

Merry, who was arrested at Jakartas Soekarno Hatta airport for attempting to smuggle 1.1 kilograms of heroin into the country, had been held at the womens prison after being convicted by the Tangerang District Court in 2003.

A security official, who chose to remain anonymous, said Merry would be brought to the Batu prison on the island, pending her execution along with several other drug convicts.

Nusakambangan is an island off Cilacap, the southern coast of Central Java, notorious for its exile prison where hard-core criminals are housed.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016