Indonesia’s war on drugs has been a feature of the country’s heavy-handed criminal justice system. Over half of Indonesia’s 404 death row inmates are facing execution for drug-related charges, making it — alongside countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia — one of the most dangerous countries in the world to possess or sell drugs. And the crackdown has recently gained strength: of Indonesia’s 94 death sentences recorded since the start of the pandemic, 80 were for drug-related offences (seven of whom were foreign nationals).
Support for the ‘zero tolerance’ approach is partly based on the idea that Indonesia’s laws promote deterrence. However the data tell a different story. Since the most recent execution of a convicted drug offender in April 2016, prosecution for drug trafficking in Indonesia has kept rising. This suggests that the movement of drugs into Indonesia hasn’t slowed, despite a long and concentrated effort from authorities.
