A Filipina on death row in Indonesia could be home before Christmas after Manila and Jakarta signed an agreement to repatriate her, officials said Friday.
Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin.
Her supporters claim she was duped by an international drug syndicate, and in 2015, she narrowly escaped execution after her suspected recruiter her was arrested.
“We agree to return the person concerned to the Philippines,” Indonesia’s senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters after signing a “practical arrangement” for Veloso’s repatriation in Jakarta.
“Mary Jane Veloso becomes the responsibility of the Philippines,” he said, adding that he had heard that the death penalty would be changed into life imprisonment.
Yusril said the transfer could be carried out “before Christmas.”
“Maybe around December 20 it can be realised.”
Veloso’s mother told AFP she was “elated and surprised” to hear of her daughter’s homecoming.
“We can finally be together this Christmas,” Celia Veloso, 65, said. “This might be the happiest Christmas we will ever have as a family.”
Veloso’s case sparked uproar in the Philippines, with rallies of support and world boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao pleading for her life.
Her supporters said she was headed to work as a maid when she was arrested in Indonesia.
She was due to face the firing squad in 2015 but the Philippine government won a last-minute reprieve for her after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking iand Veloso was named a prosecution witness.
The Philippines’ Department of Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez expressed “heartfelt gratitude” over Veloso’s repatriation.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to do this before Christmas so that it will be a happier Christmas for everyone,” he said.
The Velosos have “long been wanting to see their family back and hold her in their arms.”
Vasquez said Veloso would serve her sentence “as agreed upon, in accordance with Philippine laws”.
“We do understand and we respect the decision of the Indonesian courts with respect to the sentence that was meted on our citizen Mary Jane Veloso,” he said.
– Serving sentence –
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws including the death penalty for traffickers.
At least 530 people were on death row in the Southeast Asian nation, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to data from rights group KontraS, citing official figures.
As of early November, 96 foreigners were on death row in Indonesia, all on drugs charges, according to data from the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections.
Indonesia is also in talks with Australia and France after President Prabowo Subianto had agreed to fulfil their requests to hand back some prisoners who were sentenced on drug charges.
The prisoners include the five remaining members of Australia’s “Bali Nine” — namely Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens — who are in jail on life sentences.
The Indonesian government also received a letter from the French government requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui, who has been jailed in the Southeast Asian archipelago since his 2005 arrest.
Despite the ongoing negotiation for prisoner transfers, the Indonesian government gave the signal Thursday that it will resume execution — on hiatus since 2016 — of drug convicts who are on death row.
“The government will… study the acceleration of the execution of the death penalty for drug convicts that are legally binding and have no more legal remedies,” Coordinating Political and Security Minister Budi Gunawan said Thursday.
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