A Filipino migrant worker who has spent almost 15 years on death row in Indonesia is expected to arrive home on Wednesday after a deal was struck between Manila and Jakarta.
Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was sentenced to death after she was found guilty of drug trafficking in 2010, but has always maintained her innocence, saying she had been duped into carrying a suitcase containing drugs as she travelled to a new job abroad.
She has described the decision to allow her to return home as “a miracle”.
“For almost 15 years I was separated from my children and parents, and I could not see my children grow up,” she told Associated Press. “I wish to be given an opportunity to take care of my children and to be close to my parents.”
Her case drew widespread sympathy in the Philippines and Indonesia, where many identified with the plight of a single mother who had gone abroad seeking better opportunities to provide for her two children. Many people in both countries have relatives who work abroad, where they are vulnerable to exploitation by abusive recruiters and bosses.
Veloso was moved from a prison in Yogyakarta city to a female-only jail in the capital, Jakarta, on Sunday. She will fly to Manila after midnight on Tuesday and is expected to arrive at about 5.40am local time (2140 GMT) on Wednesday, according to her lawyer, Edre Olalia, the chairperson attorney of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.
Her family was overjoyed and elated, he said, and would travel to meet her at Manila airport on Wednesday.
In a statement, NUPL called for the family to have “full and unhindered access” to meet with her upon her arrival.
Olalia told the Guardian it was unclear what would happen to Veloso’s case once she arrived back in the Philippines. “Both governments have been, understandably, very discreet in release of the operational details,” he said.
Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, earlier told media it had agreed the Philippines would respect the Indonesian court’s sentencing of Veloso and her status as a prisoner in Indonesia. Indonesia would also respect any decision made by the Philippines, including if she was given clemency.
“There’s a range of possibilities. [One] is that she will be transported straight to a facility for women prisoners and processed there. Or … that she be granted clemency through absolute pardon right away at the get-go.”
An absolute pardon could be granted by President Ferdinand Marcos as soon as she arrives, he added.
Veloso’s family and supporters have undergone a long and gruelling journey to secure her return, including drawn-out legal battles, diplomatic efforts, an online petition and even visits by the Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao.
Veloso was almost executed by firing squad in 2015 but was granted a temporary reprieve at the last minute after the late former Philippine president, Benigno Aquino, appealed to the Indonesian government, saying Veloso was required as a witness in a separate legal case.
This appeal came after a woman who was accused of recruiting Veloso for a job abroad and of planting drugs on her handed herself in to the police in Manila. Aquino said Veloso would be needed to testify in the case against her.
Only Veloso was granted the reprieve at the time. Eight others – including two Australians who were part of the “Bali Nine” heroin-smuggling ring, four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian – were shot dead.
Born to an impoverished family in the northern city of Cabanatuan, Veloso married at 17 but later separated from her husband with whom she has two sons. She moved to Dubai in 2009 to work as a domestic helper but said she was forced to flee after she was the victim of an attempted rape.
After returning home, Veloso said Maria Kristina Sergio, the daughter of one of her godparents, offered her a different role as a domestic worker and told her to fly to Indonesia. Veloso alleges that the woman provided her with new clothes and a bag, which had 2.6kg (5.73lb) of heroin sewn into it. Sergio has disputed this account.
Veloso’s legal team had previously launched two appeals in Indonesia, arguing she did not have a competent translator, and that she was scammed, but both failed.
Indonesia on Sunday allowed five remaining members of the Bali Nine to return to their home country. The men have since had the rest of their life sentences commuted on humanitarian grounds on the condition that they continue rehabilitation in Australia.
Indonesia said its agreement with the Philippines was “reciprocal” and that if Indonesia in the future asked for its citizens jailed in the Philippines to be repatriated, this would have to be considered.
Veloso will be banned from returning to Indonesia.
