Filipina on Indonesia death row handed to Philippine officials

JAKARTA: A Filipina inmate on death row in Indonesia was handed over to Philippine officials Tuesday, before flying home after Jakarta and Manila signed an agreement for her repatriation.

Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines.

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She appeared at a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta international airport in the Indonesian capital Jakarta before the handover was made official, an AFP journalist present said.

“I am very happy today, but to be honest I am a little sad, because Indonesia has been my second family,” she told reporters before singing the Indonesian national anthem.

“I hope you will all pray for me. I have to be strong.”

She was due to take off on a Cebu Pacific flight to Manila shortly after midnight (1700 GMT).

The handover was attended by Indonesian immigration and corrections staff and representatives from the Philippine embassy in Jakarta and corrections officials from Manila.

Before addressing the media, she broke down in tears as she video called her children and parents.

Both Veloso and her supporters said she was duped by an international drug syndicate, and in 2015, she narrowly escaped execution after her suspected recruiter was arrested.

She told AFP on Friday in her first interview since the repatriation agreement that her release was a “miracle”.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.