"According to the reports that we have received, 167 Indonesian nationals are on death row, and 11 others had also been sentenced death for similar reasons," head of the information, social and cultural division of the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur Suryana Sastradiredja said here on Monday.
Most of the Indonesian nationals sentenced to death had committed very serious criminal offenses including murder and selling narcotics in Malaysia. Thus the number of Indonesian nationals on death row has reached 178.
On this matter, Suryana said, the Indonesian embassy had sent an appeal for forgiveness to the Malaysian royal authorities to spare the lives of the condemned men.
"Like in the past years, our appeal had been turned down," Suryana said, adding that the Indonesian embassy in the meantime has prepared Malaysian lawyers for the defense.
The defense by the Indonesian embassy also include for Indonesian migrant workers whose wages have not been paid by their employers.
In the meantime, the Indonesian foreign ministry said that 216 Indonesian nationals employed abroad, including in four countries on on death row.
"Some 117 are in death row in Malaysia, 20 in China, 17 in Saudi Arabia, and two in Singapore. They can always be acquitted if law in these countries found them not guilty. But this legal process may take up to two years," Director of Protection of Indonesian nationals and legal entities of the Foreign Ministry Tatang Razak said in a discussion on protection for Indonesian migrant workers abroad at Antara`s Journalistic Photo Gallery (GFJA) at Pasar Baru, Jakarta, on Friday last week.
(SYS/H-NG/A014)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
