Death penalty part of Indonesian law: FM

Indonesia's foreign affairs minister on Tuesday said death penalty is part of Indonesian law, despite criticism of its decision to carry out executions against drug convicts.

In a press conference in her office, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi also said that the decision was not directed to any particular country or nationals of certain countries.

"It should be underlined that the issue is purely law enforcement, law enforcement against serious crime, by a sovereign country, Indonesia," she said.

The minister's comments came after Australia's requests to spare its nationals from executions.

The two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, were scheduled to face the firing squad soon after their final appeal was rejected by an Indonesian court earlier this month. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has rejected to give them clemencies last month.

The president said he has rejected clemency requests filed for 64 drug convicts. Indonesia has executed six of them last month in its campaign against rampant drug abuses.

"The decision was issued by an independent and impartial judiciary system," the minister said, while saying that Indonesia understands the Australian government's position to make representation on their behalf.

The minister expected the executions would not tarnish bilateral relations with Australia as the two nations already established cooperation in various areas, including trade, investment, security, education, culture and people-to-people contact.

"Relations between the two nations should be mutually beneficial and based on mutual respects," she said.

Australia earlier said it may recall its ambassador and its nationals might boycott visits to Indonesia, should the executions take place. Endi