Indonesian court rejects French death-row convict appeal

An Indonesian court on Monday threw out an appeal lodged by a French death-row convict challenging a presidential decision to reject his request for clemency.
According to dpa. Serge Atlaoui was sentenced to death in 2007 for working in a factory that produced the stimulant MDMA, or ecstasy.
He was due to be executed in April but a last-minute legal challenge prompted authorities to grant a stay of execution.
The panel of three judges said it did not have jurisdiction to examine the executive decision.
"Granting clemency is the president's prerogative and therefore the decision cannot be challenged at the State Administrative Court," chief judge Ujang Abdullah said.
Atlaoui, 51, said he was a welder who installed tanks, pumps, distillation equipment in what he described as an acrylic production plant.
He argued that the death sentence was too harsh for his actual role in the crime.
Attorney General's office spokesman Tony Spontana said Atlaoui would be included in the next round of executions, but no date had been set.
"The next round of execution will not be carried out in the near future, at least not in this holy month of Ramadan," Spontana said.
Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, runs until July 16.
In Paris, French officials decried the decision.
"We are completely mobilized in favour of our compatriot," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "I will speak very soon with Serge Atlaoui's wife and I reiterate France's firm opposition to the death penalty everywhere and in every circumstance."
The case has strained the diplomatic relations, and Indonesia's ambassador has been called for meetings with French politicians seeking to stay the punishment. Fabius said an official from the French embassy in Indonesia had assisted Atlaoui during the reading of the decision.
Indonesia executed eight people convicted of drug trafficking in April, including seven foreigners, in defiance of international appeals for mercy.
Australia withdrew its ambassador in protest at execution of its nationals, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were the subject of repeated appeals for clemency from Australian leaders.
The other foreign convicts executed were four Nigerians and a Brazil national.
Another drug convict facing execution, Mary Jane Veloso of the Philippines, received a stay of execution because of developments in her case that could show she was a victim of human trafficking.
The European Union and the United Nations urged Indonesia to declare an "immediate moratorium" on the use of the death penalty in the wake of the executions.