A FRENCHMAN on death row in the country since 2007 for drug offences will be sent back to his home country, an Indonesian minister said.
Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mother on death row and the last five members of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring.
Senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra signed a deal for the transfer of Serge Atlaoui, a 61-year-old arrested in 2005 at a drug factory near Jakarta, in a video call with French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin.
“I think this is a process that has been quite long ... but under the current government the negotiation has been relatively swift,” Yusril said at a press conference alongside French ambassador to Indonesia Fabien Penone.
The deal caps months of talks for the transfer of the Frenchman, who will likely be repatriated on Feb 4, Yusril said yesterday.
Atlaoui is currently suffering from an illness in a Jakarta prison and receives weekly treatment at a hospital, raising the stakes of his transfer.
Atlaoui’s fate upon his return to France remains unclear.
The father of four long maintained his innocence, insisting he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.
He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court in 2007 increased the sentence to death.
Atlaoui was held on the island of Nusakambangan, Central Java, following the death sentence, but he was later transferred to the city of Tangerang, west of Jakarta.
He was due to be executed in 2015, but won a reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure, with authorities agreeing to let an outstanding appeal run its course.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.
At least 530 people are on death row in the South-East Asian nation, according to data from rights group KontraS, mostly for drug-related crimes.
Indonesia’s Immigration and Corrections Ministry said more than 90 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, as of early November. — AFP