A real Christmas story. After spending fourteen years in prison in Indonesia, Mary Jane Veloso, 39, will be able to spend the Christmas holidays at home in the Philippines. “It’s a miracle, it still feels like a dream,” declared Monday, December 16 this Filipina, single mother of two young teenagers, upon learning the news released by the Indonesian Ministry of Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
Sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking, a case with twists and turns that shocked her compatriots, returned to her country at dawn on Wednesday, December 18, where she was once again incarcerated. She was taken to a women’s prison about an hour later. His fate is now in the hands of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has the right to pardon.
Mary Jane Veloso was sentenced to death after being arrested in 2010 while carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. Five years later, when she was about to be executed, the Philippine government managed to obtain a last-minute reprieve. In the meantime, a woman suspected of having recruited her had just been arrested and tried for human trafficking. Mary Jane Veloso’s family and supporters in the Philippines say she is innocent and was the victim of an international drug trafficking ring.
A possible presidential pardon
“Mary Jane did not know that the suitcase her recruiter gave her while she was in Malaysia contained drugs,” explained, in 2022, the NGO South Feminist Futures based in Manila, in a letter sent to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, appealing for his clemency. “We believe Mary Jane is one of countless women and girls whose economic and social conditions make them vulnerable to human trafficking,” added the letter, emphasizing that “his recruiter was sentenced in 2020 to life imprisonment for illegal recruitment and large-scale fraud”.
Today, Mary Jane prepares to reunite with her two sons and her 65-year-old mother, not yet knowing whether she will continue serving her prison sentence in her country or, if President Ferdinand Marcos will show leniency and will pardon. “Indonesia will respect the decision of the Philippine government if Manila decides to grant pardon” in any case declared the Minister of Legal Affairs.
“I always prayed to God”
While in detention, Mary Jane said she learned to play volleyball and make traditional Indonesian batik clothing. When she leaves, she will give the prison a painting of butterflies, symbolizing her transformation. “I was like a caterpillar, unwanted and despised (…). I became what I am today, a butterfly, reborn and ready to face a colorful future, she told a journalist from Agence France-Presse. I always prayed to God and he answered my prayers. »
Indonesia, where anti-drug laws are among the toughest in the world, currently has at least 530 convicts on death row, according to rights group Kontras, citing official data. Among them, 96 foreigners, including two women, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services.
Among those sentenced to death is Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, 60, father of four children, arrested in 2005 for “drug trafficking”, which he always denied. According to Jakarta, France recently requested his repatriation. The last capital executions in Indonesia date back to 2016: an Indonesian and three Nigerians, sentenced for “drug trafficking”had been shot.
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