Six minutes to Die
According to most recent reports, Bali Nine convicts may take a while to die during their execution. The last time Indonesian firing squads executed drug offenders, they took at least six minutes to die.
Five people were shot at Nusakambangan on Jan 18 and four of them were strapped to 2m-tall timber planks with rubber used for making the inside of tyres. Malawi’s Namaona, Nigeria’s Daniel Enemuo, Brazil’s Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira and Ang Kiem Soe from the Netherlands were not fixed to the ground. This allowed them to fall or shuffle around after they had been shot.
The fifth convict, Rani Adriani from Indonesia, resigned herself to death. Therefore, she decided not to be strapped to one of the hardwood teak boards. She also refused to wear a hood, cuff her hands and bind her legs together. Unlike the 38-year-old convicted heroin smuggler from Sukabumi in west Java, her four inmates followed those steps.
According to reports, Adriani was the first to die. However, it took her six minutes to die, according to a medical examiner who declared her dead. Other inmates took even longer to die while they had been shot on the left side of their chest. According to authorities, Adriani was so calm during the execution that there was need to bind her.
According to Ustad Hasan Makarim — the Muslim cleric who prepared Adriani for execution, she died in a peaceful condition. “Rani was mentally strong,” Makarim said, “On the day she died, she was ready.” The cleric said that the convict had “given herself to God.”
Another inmate Namaona, a Muslim convert, was apparently not buried deep enough. There were rumours around the island that his apparition was moving around. When a Muslim cleric did an inspection of Namaona’s grave, he found that the executed drug offender was not buried following proper Islamic procedures. His corpse was reportedly not buried pointing to Mecca. The corpse was shifted to a new grave where Namaona was buried in a proper way.
Australian convicts Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are expected to be executed soon. They are still at Kerobokan jail in Bali. According to Indonesian authorities, they will be escorted to the “death” island in a military plane by heavily-armed officers.
