Indonesia to use lethal injections to execute criminals

Indonesian prosecutors want to change the method of executing criminals to lethal injection from the firing squad, the attorney general said Thursday.

Speaking at a hearing of the Constitutional Court, Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh said his office also would streamline the rules for people on death row to put an end to extended, indeterminate waits.

"We will also revise procedures ... because there are many on the death row whose fates are unclear," Saleh said.

At the end of 2006, there were 134 inmates on death row, 37 foreigners and 97 Indonesians.

"The attorney general's office wants to change the execution method to lethal injection like in the United States," Saleh said.

He said the inmates would be given two injections one to make them unconsciousness and another to kill them.

Saleh did not reveal any reason behind the plan, which he said has been discussed for a long time, reports AP.

Under the current method, the inmates face a firing squad of six, but only one of them has the real bullet, Saleh said. An additional shot would be fired to the head in case the first shot is not fatal.