ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

How an Indonesian Crewman Escaped the Death Penalty After the Country’s Largest Ever Drug Bust

However, prosecutors are appealing the five-year sentence handed to 22-year-old Fandi Ramadhan for his role in the trafficking of nearly two tonnes of methamphetamines.

The case of the Thai-flagged tanker, the Sea Dragon, captivated Indonesia after the boat was raided in waters off the country’s Riau Islands last May, with almost two tonnes of methamphetamines aboard.

It was the largest drug haul in Indonesia’s history, but the case swiftly became a test of the Indonesian legal system and, in particular, the new Criminal Code, which came into effect in January of this year.

The conversation began after the crew of the Sea Dragon – two Thai nationals and four Indonesians – were swiftly arrested and the Indonesian public prosecutor asked for an unprecedented sentence: death by firing squad for all of the accused.

This included 22-year-old Fandi Ramadhan, an oiler in the engine room of the Sea Dragon, who had only been aboard the boat for three days before his arrest.

While the request for the death penalty in a drugs case was not in itself unusual under Indonesian law, the proposed death sentences for all aboard – from the most senior to most junior crew – raised questions about whether all six men should be held equally culpable for the drugs which were disguised in packets of Chinese tea.

In Ramadhan’s telling, he had no idea that the packages of tea contained drugs, and had only accepted work on the Sea Dragon to help pay for his younger siblings’ school fees.

His legal team also argued in court that he could not be held responsible for the cargo of the ship, and had just been following orders from the captain of the Sea Dragon when he boarded the boat and got to work in the engine room.

There was also the question of whether the prosecutor’s request was appropriate when, in recent years, Indonesia has been seen to be quietly phasing out the death penalty.

Under Indonesian criminal law, the death penalty can be handed down for certain offences, including drug trafficking, terrorism, premeditated murder, treason, corruption, and gross human rights violations. However, the new code places greater emphasis on rehabilitation rather than strict punitive punishments.

Under the new code, a complete overhaul of the previous code drafted during the Dutch colonial period, any death sentence now comes with a 10-year grace period. If, within this decade in prison, prisoners have demonstrated good behaviour and reform, the death sentence can now be downgraded to life in prison.

While Indonesian courts still hand down death sentences, Indonesia has also for years invoked an informal moratorium on the death penalty. The last executions took place in 2016, when four convicted drug smugglers, including three Nigerian nationals and an Indonesian, were executed by firing squad.

In the case of the Sea Dragon, the plight of the crew came to public attention when Ramadhan’s family launched a campaign to lobby for his release.

For their part, the prosecution maintained that the death sentences were warranted, as Ramadhan had been aware of the drugs on the Sea Dragon due to their location, as some were stashed in........

© The Diplomat