A French man who has been on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for alleged drug offences is expected to return home in weeks after an Indonesian minister said an agreement would be signed on Friday to allow his transfer, reports The Guardian.
Serge Atlaoui is expected to return to France on 5 or 6 February, the senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, told Reuters on Friday.
Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mum on death row and the last five members of the so-called Bali Nine drug ring.
Indonesian officials will hold a press conference with their French counterparts to announce the transfer agreement for Atlaoui, a 61-year-old welder arrested in 2005 at a drugs factory outside the capital Jakarta, on Friday, Mahendra said.
“We will sign the arrangement tomorrow at 3 pm. The minister of justice of France already confirmed today,” Mahendra told AFP late Thursday.
The ministry said in an invite to media that a press conference would be held after a “closed-door signing of the practical arrangement” for Atlaoui’s transfer.
The signing of the agreement, initially scheduled for Wednesday, was first postponed to Thursday for scheduling reasons and then again to Friday, according to a source close to the discussions.
“The agreement is due to be signed early Friday afternoon in Jakarta by Mr Yusril and Gérald Darmanin, the French justice minister, remotely from Paris, by videoconference,” the source said.
Atlaoui is suffering from an illness in a Jakarta prison and receives weekly treatment at a hospital, raising the stakes of his transfer.