Mary Jane Veloso, Filipina nearly executed in Indonesia, arrives home

A Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on death row in Indonesia and was almost executed by firing squad has returned home, where she now awaits a potential pardon in a women’s prison.

Mary Jane Veloso, 39, landed at Manila airport early on Wednesday following a repatriation deal between the two countries that eliminated the threat of her execution, as the Philippines has long abolished the death penalty.

The mother of two was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after a suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilogrammes (5.7 pounds) of heroin.

She flew home without handcuffs alongside Filipino correctional officials on an overnight commercial flight after a Jakarta ceremony marking “the end of a harrowing chapter in Veloso’s life”, the corrections bureau said in a statement.

Veloso was flanked by heavy security upon her arrival at the airport and was transported straight to a prison facility for women. Her family and dozens of supporters chanting slogans such as “Clemency for Mary Jane” and “Free, free Mary Jane” who were waiting outside the terminal failed to greet Veloso on her arrival.

Prison guards later allowed Veloso’s family to spend time with her. Veloso’s two sons ran towards her and hugged her tightly as they met inside the prison compound.

“I hope our president [Ferdinand Marcos] will give me clemency so I can go back to my family. I had been in jail in Indonesia for 15 years over something I did not commit,” an emotional Veloso, who is technically still serving a life sentence, told reporters after undergoing a medical examination at the Manila prison.

Trafficking victim

The conviction and death sentence for the single mother of two sons caused an outcry in the Philippines.

She had travelled to Indonesia where a recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, reportedly told her a job as a domestic worker awaited her. Sergio also allegedly provided the suitcase where the drugs were found.

In 2015, Indonesia moved Veloso to an island prison where she and eight other drug convicts were scheduled to be executed despite objections from their home countries Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana and Nigeria.

Indonesia executed the others but Veloso was granted a stay of execution because Sergio had been arrested in the Philippines two days earlier. She faces human trafficking charges, and Veloso was named as a prosecution witness in the case.

Veloso became a poster child for her country’s 10 million-strong economic diaspora, many of whom take jobs as domestic workers abroad to escape poverty at home.

Marcos said last month that Veloso’s story resonated in the Philippines as “a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life”.

In a statement on Wednesday, Marcos thanked Indonesia for turning over custody of Veloso, but made no mention of a pardon or clemency.

Under the agreement, Veloso’s life sentence now falls under the Philippines’ purview, “including the authority to grant clemency, remission, amnesty and similar measures”.

“Definitely, that’s on the table,” Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez told reporters on Wednesday, adding Veloso’s clemency bid would be “seriously studied”.

She will serve out her life sentence if not pardoned, Vasquez added.

Indonesia’s government has said it will respect any decision made by Manila.

The Veloso deal includes a “reciprocity” provision. “If Indonesia requests similar assistance in the future, the Philippines shall fulfil such a request,” the agreement states.

There has been intense press speculation that Indonesia would seek custody of Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian detained on drug charges in the Philippines earlier this year.

He is also being sought by Jakarta over drug smuggling, which could land him the death penalty.

About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, Ministry of Immigration and Corrections data showed last month. Indonesia’s last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.

Five Australians who spent almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons for heroin trafficking returned to Australia on Sunday under a deal struck between the governments.

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