By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
An Indonesian court has rejected an application for a judicial review by a Ghanaian man facing execution by firing squad for drug smuggling.
Antara news reported Thursday that the public prosecutor at South Jakarta District Court had turned down the request by Martin Anderson's lawyers.
"We reject the overall review filed by Martin," said prosecutor Arya Wicaksana, elaborating that it would make no difference as President Jokowi Widodo had already refused a presidential pardon.
Anderson -- also known as Belo -- was convicted of possessing 50 grams of heroin in the capital Jakarta in November 2003. He was sentenced to death June 2004.
The Ghanaian is currently awaiting execution with nine others, among them two Australians -- Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran -- whose government has been clamoring for clemency.
Prosecutors have said that none of the ten will be executed until appeals by all of them have been heard.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Muhamad Prasetyo announced a further delay until lawyers for Filipino inmate Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso and French father of four Serge Areski Atlaoui submit a review to the Supreme Court.
The other inmates are from Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil and Spain.
Prasetyo said the delay occurred as none of the inmates have filed a common law suit.
He did not predict how long the delay would last, only suggesting it could be weeks, perhaps months.
In Anderson's case, prosecutors said that the grounds for review contradict his initial confession of guilt.
His lawyer Thomas S. Christian had contended that the death penalty was a mistake, so the court should grant the review.
"Martin was only caught with 50 grams of heroin,” stated Christian, adding that this illustrated that he was a consumer, not a "smuggler or courier."
He referred to the case of Nigerian Hillary K Chimezie, who -- on being caught with 5.2 kg of heroin -- was not sentenced to death after the court granted her judicial review.
He said she was instead given 12 years in prison.
