Convicted Nigerian drug dealer Humphrey Eleweke may not fear death, but he is unwilling to die for a crime he says he did not commit.

Unless things change, 31-year-old Humphrey, alias the "Doctor", will be shot dead by firing squad as ordered by the Jakarta High Court.

"I am not afraid of death... It's all in the hands of God," Humphrey told The Jakarta Post in Cipinang Penitentiary recently.

Humphrey was sentenced to death for possession of 1.7 kilograms of heroin found in a room in his Central Jakarta restaurant.

Claiming no knowledge of the drugs, Humphrey said he had let one of his workers, Ifanyi, use the room. Ifanyi is still at large.

"I am innocent," Humphrey said.

Humphrey said he only confessed to possessing the drugs after police assaulted and threatened to kill him.

"At night, they took off the tape (they had wrapped) around my eyes and placed four guns on a desk and showed me pictures of five dead Africans that they had already killed," Humphrey said. Eventually, he says he signed the confession after police beat him "black and blue".

A team of lawyers from Lawrence T.P. Siburian and Associates representing Humphrey have filed a case review request to the Supreme Court in a final attempt to save his life.

A member of the team, Kandaru Simorangke, told the Post that the law firm was working for Humphrey on a pro bono basis. Top lawyer and human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis has joined the team to offer it support.

Lawyer Harry Marpaung said for the firm, representing Humphrey was a matter of moral principle.

"We do not know whether Humphrey is innocent or not. However, since the penalty he is facing is capital punishment, we believe that at least for the sake of justice, all the facts concerning the case should be made clear, so the judges can make a sound decision," he said.

The team said it had new evidence that it hoped could secure Humphrey's release.

On Oct. 5, it will present witnesses in a district court hearing, corroborating a death-bed statement made by convicted Nigerian drug dealer Charles "Kelly" Kanu.

In the statement Kanu, jailed in 2002, confesses to have framed Humphrey.

One of the witnesses, Kelly's accomplice, 27-year-old convicted Nigerian drug-dealer Ugochukino Ibiam Okoro, who is also serving time in Cipinang jail, told the Post that while he was in Tangerang Penitentiary with Kelly, the inmate had confessed to framing Humphrey. Kelly had done so because of a personal grievance; Humphrey had taken over the management of his restaurant after Kelly's arrest and banned drugs from it, Ugochukino said.

"It was Kelly's drugs ... he told Ifanyi to place them (the heroin) there (inside the room)," he said.

Kelly then tipped off police about the drugs in the restaurant.

Ugochukino said Humphrey -- an innocent man -- did not deserve to be in prison.

"Prison is hell ... You miss your family, you miss your loved ones, they lock you up at seven at night, and being watched all the time. It's not good."

"I am guilty. I admit it. I'm serving my time here. But he (Humphrey) doesn't belong here," Ugochukino said.

Humphrey's team says other incidents leading up to his arrest also seem to corroborate his claims of evidence.

During his trial, the police claimed Humphrey was caught "red-handed" with the drugs in the restaurant.

However, according to Humphrey, on the day of the arrest, he was at a church/mosque praying. He says he received a phone call from the police asking him to go to the restaurant because they wanted to search it. Humphrey says he left the church/mosque after the call from police narcotics unit head Sr. Adj Comr. Hendra Joni.

"I had a 100 percent chance of escaping but I didn't because I did not know (about the drugs). Would someone who knew about the existence of the drugs voluntarily come home like that?"

Contacted by the Post, Hendra denied Humphrey's allegations.

The arrest followed all the proper procedures, he said.

"The police did not phone him, and it's clear that I did not," he said, adding police were tipped off by informants about the drugs.

Neither did police beat Humphrey up or threaten to kill him. "It is clearly prohibited for us to use force while questioning a witness or a suspect. We did not beat Humphrey," he said.

Commenting on Kelly's alleged confession, Hendra said the evidence was given by witnesses who lacked credibility.

"The witnesses are convicts from Cipinang. Why should we believe what a drug dealer says to us? They are unreliable," he said.

Hendra said drugs were a big issue in Indonesia. "People come to our country, carrying with them a poisonous substance, and selling it to our younger generation. Our people are ruined while they get the money," he said.

Humphrey, meanwhile, believes there is a common prejudice here that Africans and drug-trafficking are identical.

However, he did not regret coming to Indonesia. "I believe in God, and that He has plans behind all my suffering," he said.

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