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Arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death in 2007, Atlaoui has long maintained his innocence, claiming he was unaware of illegal activities on his worksite.
ADVERTISEMENTIndonesian authorities escorted French national Serge Atlaoui to Jakarta’s airport on Tuesday, marking the beginning of his return to France after nearly two decades behind bars for drug-related offences.The transfer follows a bilateral agreement between Indonesia and France.Atlaoui, 61, was sentenced to death in 2007 after being convicted of involvement in an MDMA manufacturing operation on the outskirts of Jakarta.He has consistently maintained his innocence. At the time of his arrest, he claims, he was a welder installing equipment at what he believed was an acrylics factory, and he insists he was unaware of the purpose of the chemicals stored on the worksite.Indonesian police, however, accused him of being a “chemist” at the site.Atlaoui was initially sentenced to life in prison, but Indonesia’s Supreme Court increased his punishment to the death penalty upon appeal.He was scheduled to be executed by a 13-member firing squad in 2015, but was granted a last-minute reprieve after an intervention by French authorities.Atlaoui still had an unresolved court appeal at the time, prompting Indonesia to delay his execution while proceeding with the executions of eight other prisoners.In December 2023, having exhausted all legal avenues, Atlaoui formally requested to serve the remainder of his sentence in France due to his declining health. Reports indicate he has been diagnosed with cancer.Following negotiations, Indonesia’s senior law minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and the French justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, signed a prisoner transfer agreement remotely on 24 January, paving the way for his return to France.On Tuesday afternoon, Atlaoui was taken from Salemba Prison in Jakarta and transported to the airport, where he was set to board a commercial flight to Paris.His arrival in France is expected on Wednesday morning. He made no comments to reporters gathered outside the prison.Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, with around 530 prisoners currently on death row, including nearly 100 foreign nationals, according to data from the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections. However, the country has not carried out an execution since 2016.Atlaoui’s repatriation follows a series of similar prisoner transfers. In December, Indonesia returned Filipina national Mary Jane Veloso — who had also been on death row since 2015 — after years of diplomatic efforts by the Philippine government.That same month, five Australians convicted of heroin trafficking were also sent back to Australia under a bilateral agreement.ADVERTISEMENTWith its prisons suffering from severe overcrowding, Jakarta is now considering new legislation on amnesty and prisoner transfers as part of broader judicial reforms.
