Indonesia executes Indian drug smuggler

A police firing squad today executed an Indian national who had been found guilty of smuggling heroin into Indonesia, authorities said.

The execution of Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey in Medan City on Sumatra was the first death sentence carried out in Indonesia since 2001. It came despite pleas for clemency by the Indian Embassy and London-based rights group Amnesty International, who had complained his trial fell short of international standards of fairness.

A senior police officer said the execution was carried out at 0200 am local time today. He was given an Islamic burial in the city shortly after the execution, the report said.

Ayodhya was arrested along with two Thai nationals in 1994 after airport officials confiscated 12 kg heroin. All three were sentenced to death in 1996. The two Thai nationals remain on death row.—(PTI)