Indonesia and the Philippines signed an agreement today to repatriate Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina sentenced to death for drug trafficking, to Manila, an Indonesian minister said.
"We have agreed to send the person concerned back to the Philippines and the obligation to provide counselling to detainee Mary Jane Veloso will be the responsibility of the Philippine government," Indonesian Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.
He added that Veloso, 39, could be repatriated "before Christmas".
The agreement was signed in Jakarta between Philippine Justice Department Undersecretary Raul Vasquez and Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
Mary Jane Veloso, a mother of two who was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 while carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase, has been sentenced to death.
In 2015, the Philippine government obtained a last-minute reprieve to avoid the execution after a woman suspected of recruiting Veloso was arrested and tried for human trafficking.
In late November, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, had agreed in principle to Veloso's repatriation.
A short time later, the young woman held in a Yogyakarta prison said she was "grateful and happy to know that there is a new opportunity to return home and reunite with her family."
Indonesia, which has some of the world's strictest anti-drug laws, currently has 530 people on death row, including 96 foreigners, according to official figures.
Among those sentenced to death is Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, 60, for whom Paris recently requested repatriation, Jakarta said.
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