Death row Filipino arrives home from Indonesia, then goes straight to jail
By Agence France-Presse
A Filipino woman who spent nearly 15 years on Indonesia’s death row landed in Manila on Wednesday morning where she was taken to a local prison following a repatriation deal years in the making.
Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6kg (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines.
A commercial plane carrying Veloso and Philippine correctional officials arrived in Manila at daybreak, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said, following a handover agreement that removed the possibility of her execution.
She was taken to a Manila prison for women about an hour later, journalists on the scene saw.
“This is a new life for me, and I will have a new beginning in the Philippines,” a tearful Veloso had earlier told a press conference in Jakarta, adding she wanted to spend Christmas with her family.
“I have to go home because I have a family there, I have my children waiting for me.”
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Agence France-Presse
A Filipino woman who spent nearly 15 years on Indonesia’s death row landed in Manila on Wednesday morning where she was taken to a local prison following a repatriation deal years in the making.
Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6kg (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines.
A commercial plane carrying Veloso and Philippine correctional officials arrived in Manila at daybreak, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said, following a handover agreement that removed the possibility of her execution.
She was taken to a Manila prison for women about an hour later, journalists on the scene saw.
“This is a new life for me, and I will have a new beginning in the Philippines,” a tearful Veloso had earlier told a press conference in Jakarta, adding she wanted to spend Christmas with her family.
“I have to go home because I have a family there, I have my children waiting for me.”
via SCMP Full Text Feed
