Indonesia to repatriate 2 convicted Dutch drug traffickers, including one on death row

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia and the Netherlands on Tuesday agreed to repatriate two Dutch nationals convicted on drug offences in Indonesia, including one facing the death penalty and another serving a life sentence.

The agreement was signed by officials in both Jakarta and Amsterdam following a request by the Dutch king and foreign ministry for the release of the men, both of whom are in poor health, according to Indonesia’s senior law minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Mahendra, who signed the agreement at a ceremony in Jakarta, said the request was approved by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and that he expected the men to be returned to the Netherlands on Dec. 8.

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel also signed it at a separate event in Amsterdam, witnessed by delegations from both countries.

The prisoner on death row, Siegfried Mets, 74, was convicted of involvement in the shipment of 600,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Indonesia in February 2008. He has been held in a prison in Jakarta for 17 years.

The other man, Ali Tokman, 65, was taken into custody at Surabaya airport in December 2014 after customs officers found slightly more than 6 kilograms (13.5 pounds) of brown-colored MDMA, a psychoactive drug. He has served 11 years of his life sentence.

The Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Marc Gerritsen, said the Netherlands had made the request for humanitarian reasons and is “very grateful that Indonesia allows these two Dutch detainees to be closer to their families.” He said the agreed prison transfer illustrates the good cooperation between the two countries in the areas of justice and law.

Indonesia under President Prabowo ’s administration has sent several foreign prisoners home under bilateral agreements with each of their countries. They included a Filipina who faced the death penalty for drugs, five Australians convicted of heroin trafficking, and two British nationals who also faced death penalty and life sentence for smuggling drugs to Indonesia.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.

About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including nearly 100 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed last month. Indonesia’s last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.