Indonesia rejected a plea by
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff to
spare two Brazilians condemned to
death for drug trafficking in a
dispute that she said threatens to
sour relations between the two
countries.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo
refused Rousseff’s personal appeal
by telephone to spare Marco
Moreira and Rodrigo Gularte, who
face “imminent” execution,
according to a statement published
Friday by Brazil’s presidential press
office in Brasilia. They would be
the first Brazilians to be executed
by a foreign government, according
to newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Widodo told Rousseff he couldn’t
commute the sentence because all
judicial proceedings had followed
Indonesian law and the Brazilian
citizens had been granted due
process, according to the
statement. The decision “will
generate commotion in Brazil and
have a negative repercussion for
bilateral relations,” Rousseff told
Widodo.

The executions will be carried out
by a firing squad, according to a
report by Human Rights Watch.

Indonesia’s Ministry of State didn’t
answer a telephone call made after
business hours in Jakarta. The
Indonesian Embassy’s press office
in Brasilia didn’t immediately
respond to requests made by
phone and e-mail for comment on
the date of the execution and its
potential impact on relations with
Brazil.

Hoping for Miracle

Indonesia’s government said in
December it would put to death 64
drug convicts. The execution on
Jan. 18 of six for drug-related
offenses would be a setback to the
new government’s promise of
improving respect for human
rights, Amnesty International said
in a statement Jan. 15.

“Let’s hope a miracle may reverse
this situation,” Marco Aurelio
Garcia, Rousseff’s foreign policy
adviser, told reporters in Brasilia
on Friday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott also appealed to Widodo to
spare two Australian men from
execution, the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. reported on
Saturday in Sydney.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew
Chan were among nine Australians
arrested on the Indonesian island
of Bali in 2005 for attempting to
carry eight kilograms (17 pounds)
of heroin through the airport. The
group became known as the Bali
Nine.

Sukumaran isn’t due to face a
firing squad on Jan. 18, though he
is one of 16 prisoners on death row
whose plea for clemency has been
denied by Widodo, the ABC said.
The prospects of a reprieve for
Chan may be slim after Widodo
indicated he wouldn’t show mercy
for any other prisoner with drug
convictions, the ABC reported.