Indonesian authorities have escorted an ailing French national who has been on death row to the airport in Jakarta as his return to France got underway following an agreement between the two nations. In May , Indonesia executed eight other convicts but Atlaoui was granted a stay of execution.
An Administrative Court in Jakarta denied his last court appeal the following month. The father-of-four, who is now 61 and reportedly has cancer, made a last-ditch plea to be returned home in December by writing to the Indonesian government requesting to serve the rest of his sentence in France.
Atlaoui was arrested in for his alleged involvement in a factory manufacturing the psychedelic drug MDMA, sometimes called ecstasy, on the outskirts of Jakarta. His lawyers say he was employed as a welder at the factory and did not understand what the chemicals on the premises were used for. Atlaoui, from the town of Metz in France, has maintained his innocence during his 19 years behind bars, claiming he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.
He was initially sentenced to life, but the Supreme Court in increased the sentence to death on appeal. Atlaoui was taken from Salemba Prison in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon in a car to the airport, where he is to board a commercial flight to Paris later in the day. His arrival in France is expected on Wednesday morning. Once he is back in France, Atlaoui would serve the rest of his sentence under French law, said I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, an immigration and corrections official.
Atlaoui, wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, a black baseball cap and a facemask, was brought before reporters at the airport, though he did not speak. When asked what would happen to Atlaoui once back in France, Mr Penone said French authorities would re-examine his case.
