‘Malawian’ Denis Namaona executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking

Malawian citizen – according to a passport –   Denis Namaona, 48,  arrested in 2001 was among six people convicted of drugs offences in Indonesia who have been executed by firing squad shortly after midnight local time on Sunday morning.

Five other drug convicts executed were from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam and Nigeria.

“The execution of the six convicts has been carried out,” spokesman Tony Spontana told AFP news agency.

He said five were executed on Nusakambangan Island, off the south coast of the archipelago’s main island of Java and home to a high-security prison. The sixth was executed in Boyolali district in central Java.

The executions mark the first time capital punishment has been carried out under new President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The country resumed executions in 2013 after an unofficial four-year moratorium.

Human rights group Amnesty International urged the Indonesian government to halt executions immediately, and eventually abolish the death penalty.