Indonesian president defends death penalty
AP on April 19, 2016, 1:47 am
Indonesia's president has defended his country's use of the death penalty for drug offences, arguing during his visit to Germany that drug abuse constitutes an emergency.
Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and more than 130 people on death row, mostly for drug crimes.
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed last year after trying to smuggle drugs through Bali in 2005, and Indonesian authorities have recently said the country is preparing to execute more foreigners convicted of drug offences.
President Joko Widodo said on Monday that Indonesia "has an emergency, above all in drug abuse".
He said 30 to 50 people a day die in Indonesia because of drugs.
"Implementation of the death penalty is carried out very cautiously," Jokowi said through an interpreter.
He spoke after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who underlined Germany's opposition to capital punishment and its wish for Indonesia "not to implement it if possible".
