Why Indonesia’s death penalty lives on, even as executions dwindle

Indonesia has not executed anyone in over a decade, with its new Criminal Code designed to make capital punishment a “last resort”. Yet the number of prisoners on death row continues to climb.

A new report on the persistent use of capital punishment in Indonesia’s courts has raised questions about the rulings despite an unofficial moratorium on executions. There were 639 people on death row in Indonesia as of April, an increase from 596 as of August 2025, according to a report by the Indonesian...