Indonesia to execute French drug trafficker on death row

Serge Atlaoui, 51, has been denied clemency following a death sentence for serious narcotic offenses, The New York Times reports. According to a spokesman for the attorney general's office, the appeal was Atlaoui's last legal maneuver available. The execution will be scheduled after Ramadan ends on July 17.

Atlaoui was arrested in 2005 during a raid on a lab that reportedly produced 220 pounds of Ecstasy tablets a week. Atlaoui claims he was installing machinery in what he believed to be an acrylics factory.

Indonesia has been criticized by the international community for using the death penalty as punishment for drug trafficking. In April, eight drug felons were executed by a firing squad after being denied pleas for clemency; seven of the prisoners were foreigners, from Australia, Brazil, and Nigeria. Atlaoui, who had been scheduled for execution, was granted a reprieve.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who rejected Atlaoui's plea for clemency in December, maintains that on average between 30 and 50 Indonesians die every day from overdoses and accidents linked to drugs.