An Indonesian firing squad executed eight convicted drug-traffickers from several countries on Wednesday, prompting Australia to recall its envoy to Jakarta and bringing an angry reaction from Brazil.
The leaders of Australia and Brazil had made personal appeals for clemency for their citizens among the group, raising the stakes for Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo, Reuters reported.
Australia has deep commercial and political ties with its big neighbor, while Brazil has a $5 billion trade surplus with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Brazil is also at risk of losing a major military export deal to Indonesia over the executions row.
“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters in Canberra. He said Ambassador Paul Gibson would return to Australia by the end of the week.
“I want to stress that this is a very important relationship between Australia and Indonesia but it has suffered as a result of what’s been done over the last few hours.” Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed by firing squad along with four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
The Brazilian government said in a statement it was shocked by the news, which marked the second execution of a Brazilian in Indonesia in three months despite President Dilma Rousseff’s personal humanitarian appeals.
Brazil’s foreign ministry also said it was evaluating ties with Indonesia before deciding what action to take. It recalled its former ambassador in Jakarata after the first execution and said Wednesday it had no plans to replace him.
