A Filipino mother who was almost executed for drug crimes has been transferred out of Indonesia, just days after five Australian prisoners from the Bali nine drug smuggling group, were sent home. Mary Jane Veloso had been on death row for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia, but has always maintained her innocence. She's been put on a flight to Manila, where she is due to continue her sentence.
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00:00A huge contrast in the way that Mary Jane Veloso has been transferred out of Indonesia
00:08compared to the extreme secrecy that the Australian government insisted on for the repatriation
00:14of those remaining Bali Nine members.
00:17Those five men were flown out of Indonesia on Sunday and the Indonesian government was
00:22told not to say anything until they were safely back in Australia.
00:26By contrast, authorities here have been giving public updates of every step of the transfer
00:33process right down to the flight number and the terminal.
00:37Now part of this reflects the fact that in the Philippines and even here in Indonesia,
00:42Mary Jane Veloso is widely seen as a victim, a woman who was unwittingly duped into carrying
00:48heroin into Yogyakarta in 2010.
00:52In 2015, she was among a group including Bali Nine members Mayurin Sukumaran and Andrew
00:57Chan who were set for execution by firing squad.
01:02She was the only one who was given a stay of execution, but she's been on death row
01:07ever since.
01:08Now she's heading home to the Philippines, a country that abolished the death penalty.
01:14In the agreement that Australia struck with Indonesia for those members of the Bali Nine,
01:18it said they must spend time in a rehabilitation facility.
01:22The Philippines agreement says Mary Jane Veloso must spend time in prison.
01:27How long though, that's up to the Philippines.
01:30It's widely expected at some point she will be released and reunited with her two adult children.
01:36As for the supposed sensitivity that justified such secrecy for the Bali Nine transfer, well
01:43there's just not much sign of it.
01:45Indonesia thinks these agreements are good diplomacy.
01:48They are happy to publicise them.
01:50They also think it's a good way of easing pressure on an overcrowded prison system.
01:55In fact, Indonesia's government says it's looking to do more of these prison transfers
02:00with other countries soon.