Indonesia repatriated two Dutch nationals, one of whom had been on death row, to the Netherlands on Monday, following a bilateral agreement signed between the two countries. Both were convicted of smuggling illegal substances and had been serving lengthy sentences under the Indonesian drug laws before their repatriation.
The two men were facing health problems, partially due to their age, which prompted the Dutch king and the foreign ministry to request their repatriation for humanitarian reasons. It is unclear whether they will continue serving their sentence, as Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Immigration, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, confirmed that Dutch laws will apply upon their arrival in Europe.
Siegfried Mets, 74, was sentenced to death in 2008 for partaking in the shipment and distribution of 600,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Indonesia. Ali Tokman, 65, was sentenced to life in prison after customs officers found about 6 kilograms of MDMA, a synthetic drug in powder form. They have served 17 and 11 years of their sentences, respectively.
Indonesia has previously returned foreign nationals under bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding to Australia, the Philippines, and Great Britain.
Under President Prabowo Subianto’s leadership, Indonesia has adopted some of the strictest drug policies in the world. Prabowo’s administration leads a self-proclaimed “all-out war on drugs,” prosecuting and punishing drug-trafficking offenses severely. Despite threats to lift a moratorium on use of the death penalty, Indonesia’s last executions—of a citizen and three foreigners—were carried out in July 2016.
Law No. 35 of 2009 on Narcotics imposes potential life imprisonment or the death penalty for offenses such as trafficking, distribution, production, import, or export of narcotics. Even possession or consumption of small amounts, depending on the substance, may trigger multi-year prison sentences. For example, possession, cultivation or supply of even of personal quantities of cannabis (or cannabis-derived substances) is punishable by four to 12 years. Holding larger quantities of cannabis can carry a death penalty.
Civil society groups such as LBH Masyarakat (LBHM, or Community Legal Aid Institute) have called for the Indonesian drug laws to “shift away from punitive approaches toward evidence-based approaches rooted in health and human rights principles.” Experts argue that any reforms must address the socioeconomic impacts of the current laws, as findings show that “those criminalised for drug offending generally only have low to average educational backgrounds and that criminalisation may particularly affect those who are unemployed or only precariously employed.”
