Indonesia and the Philippines signed an agreement Friday to send Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row for drug charges in Indonesia since 2015, back to her home country.
The announcement came following the Philippines' Department of Justice undersecretary Raul Vasquez's meeting with Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in Jakarta on Friday, during which both ministers signed the agreement.
Following the signing, Yusril said Indonesian authorities will discuss further details with the Philippines' embassy in Jakarta on Veloso's transfer, which is expected to occur before December 25.
"We agree to return the person concerned to the Philippines and the obligation to guide prisoner Mary Jane Veloso becomes the responsibility of the Philippine government," Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Friday.
He added that they are hoping the transfer "will be carried out before Christmas, 25 December." Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin and later sentenced to death.
She was due to face the firing squad in 2015. Still, 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 in which Veloso was named as a prosecution witness.
The mother-of-two's case sparked an uproar in the Philippines, with her family and supporters saying she was innocent and had been set up by an international drug syndicate. Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws including the death penalty for traffickers.
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