JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has handed over to French authorities a man on death row for drug offences who will start his return to his home country late on Tuesday, the latest in a series of foreign drug convicts repatriated from the Southeast Asian nation.
Serge Atlaoui was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role as a chemist in an ecstasy factory that was capable of producing 100 kg (220.5 lb) of illegal pills every week. Atlaoui has long maintained his innocence, saying he thought he was working in an acrylics factory.
He was scheduled to leave Jakarta at 7.25 p.m. (1215 GMT) on a plane bound for France.
Atlaoui’s repatriation will follow those in December of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino mother and former domestic helper who was sentenced to death in 2010, and five remaining members of the “Bali Nine” Australian drug ring. All were jailed for drugs offences and will serve the remainder of their sentences in their home countries.
Wearing a white short-sleeve shirt, blue jeans and black mask, Atlaoui appeared at press conference late on Tuesday with Indonesian and French officials but made no comment.
Indonesia agreed to repatriate Atlaoui on humanitarian grounds as he was suffering from cancer.
“We emphasise the importance of respecting values of humanity, international law and human rights principles… and we are sending him home today,” said Ahmad Usmarwi Kaffah, an aide to Indonesia’s senior minister for legal affairs.
Indonesia would respect any judicial decisions made in France following the repatriation, including clemency, said ministry official I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram. The maximum punishment for a similar case under French law is 30 years in jail.
France thanked Indonesia for the repatriation, said its ambassador to Jakarta Fabien Penone, adding Atlaoui’s status would be examined once he arrives in France.
In 2015, Atlaoui was about to be executed with seven other foreign prisoners but was granted a last-minute reprieve, but a court then rejected his appeal against the death sentence, leaving him with no other legal options.
(Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman, Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Martin Petty)
