Indonesia's mass execution: Who are the other death row inmates?

After almost a decade of appeals and legal wranglings, the infamous Bali Nine ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have been executed by firing squad.

Ten years ago, Chan and Sukumaran were among nine young Australian drug mules arrested for trying to smuggle more then eight kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia.

The so-called masterminds of the Bali Nine operation, the duo was sentenced to death and their journey over a subsequent decade has been well-documented.

Australia has scrupulously followed Chan and Sukumaran's legal processes, the pair's rehabilitation and their final days.

But what do we know about the other felons who were killed alongside them in Indonesia's mass execution, after also losing their appeals for clemency?

Here are brief profiles of the condemned inmates, who hail from Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Indonesia.

Death row inmates: Top row from left, Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, who won a last-minute reprieve, and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. Bottom row from left. Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise. Photo: Getty Images
Death row inmates: Top row from left, Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, who won a last-minute reprieve, and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte. Bottom row from left. Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise. Photo: Getty Images

Rodrigo Gularte, 49, Brazil:

Gularte was convicted of smuggling six kilograms of cocaine stashed in his surfing gear in 2004.

He was detained along with two other men, but took the blame for the covert drug operation, and was sentenced to death one year later.

The Gularte family have tried without success to obtain clemency for him by saying doctors have classed him as paranoid schizophrenic, which would normally see him transferred to a psychiatric facility.

His lawyer said he would continue his fight to stop the execution and was due to launch a last-ditch bid for mercy.

If the execution goes ahead as planned, Gularte will be the second Brazilian to be executed under Indonesia's tough crackdown on drug smuggling.

Relatives and friends said Gularte had spent most of his time alone at Nusakambangan prison, on the execution island, talking to the walls, imagining ghosts or hearing voices.

Gularte was born into a wealthy family in the southern Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaco.

He was a keen surfer and relatives remember him as a kind young boy who slipped into depression, and became involved in drugs after his parents divorced when he was 13.

Rodrigo Gularte. Photo: AAP
Rodrigo Gularte. Photo: AAP

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, 30, Phillipines

A Filipino migrant worker who was sentenced to death in October 2010 for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin into Jogjakarata from Malaysia.

Her life was spared at the last moment after a man who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave himself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday.

She is the only female and has spent the shortest amount of time on death row.

Born to a poor family in the Philippines, Veloso is a single mother of two boys who insists she went to Indonesia for a job as a maid and was duped by an international drug syndicate.

Veloso says she was first offered a job by a friend in Malaysia, but upon her arrival she was told the work was actually in Indonesia so immediately flew there.

She claims the heroin was secretly hidden in her suitcase in Malaysia.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. Photo: AP
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. Photo: AP

Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, 47, Nigeria

Sentenced to death for smuggling 1.2 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia from Pakistan in 2004.

Obiekwe was reportedly running a drug ring while on death row, outraging authorities who ordered he face the firing squad as soon as possible.

His wife Fatimah claimed Obiekwe was unemployed in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, before being lured to Pakistan on the promise of a quick-paying job but was duped.

According to his wife, once in Pakistan Obiekwe was asked to swallow capsules he was told contained goat horn powder, and fly to Indonesia.

Ms Fatimah, who is Indonesian, described Obiekwe as just a 'poor courier'.

The pair met in prison in 2007 when she accompanied a friend who was visiting another inmate, according to reports.

They married that year and have since had two children, now five and three.


Okwudili Oyatanze, 41, Nigeria

Oyatanze was arrested in 2001 for trying to smuggle 1.15 kilograms of heroin, in his stomach, through Jakarta's international airport from Pakistan.

He was convicted the following year and sentenced to death.

Known in Indonesia's penal system as the 'Death Row Gospel Singer', Oyatanze was the front man for a band comprising prison inmates.

He has written songs and released multiple albums from inside jail.

Oyatanze, born in southeastern Nigeria, reportedly launched a garment business in 1999 and travelled to Indonesia to buy clothing to market in Nigeria.

When the business collapsed, he found himself steeped in debt.

Seizing a chance to earn some easy money, Oyatanze travelled to Pakistan to become a courier.

The drug smuggling plan reportedly involved swallowing capsules of heroin before boarding a flight to Jakarta.

Okwudili Oyatanze
Okwudili Oyatanze

Raheem Agbaje Salami, 50, Nigeria

Salami was caught smuggling 5.3 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia in 1998.

Salami, who initially was wrongly said to have come from Spain, spent five years believing that he would one day be released.

He had been sentenced, in 1999, to a life term by the Surabaya District Court in East Java for bringing the stash of heroin through Surabaya airport.

In 2006, however, the Supreme Court upgraded his sentence to death.

Martin Anderson, 50, Nigeria

Anderson, also known as Belo, was sentenced to death in 2004 after being convicted of possessing 50 grams of heroin in Jakarta in November, 2003.

He had travelled to Indonesia on a fake Ghanaian passport.

Zainal Abidin, Indonesia

Zainal Abidin, from Palembang in south Sumatra, was caught in 2001 possessing 58.7 kilograms of marijuana.

His original life sentence was upgraded that same year to death for his role in the massive operation on the well-travelled Aceh-to-Java dope smuggling route.

Indonesian authorities at the time of his arrest were cracking down on the marijuana trade, believing the proceeds from sales were being used to fund the Free Aceh Movement of north Sumatra.

He was sentenced to death in December 2001.

Serge Atlaoui, France:

Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, who was due to face the firing squad, was given a last-minute, two-week reprieve.

Serge Atlaoui. Photo: AAP
Serge Atlaoui. Photo: AAP