Two Dutch drug convicts, including a death row inmate, will be deported from Indonesia next week under a bilateral agreement
JAKARTA: Two Dutch drug convicts imprisoned in Indonesia will be deported to the Netherlands next week.
Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra confirmed the agreement late Tuesday, stating the pair will return home on December 8.
One of the men, 74-year-old Siegfried Mets, has been on death row since 2008 for smuggling 600,000 ecstasy pills.
The other, 65-year-old Ali Tokman, was originally sentenced to death in 2015 for smuggling over six kilograms of MDMA before his sentence was commuted to life.
Dutch Ambassador Marc Gerritsen said the Netherlands was “very grateful” for the decision allowing the men “to be closer to their families”.
He stated the repatriation was requested on humanitarian grounds, noting Mets suffers from a broken hand and Tokman has high blood pressure.
Indonesia maintains some of the world’s strictest anti-narcotics laws but has recently repatriated several high-profile foreign detainees.
The administration of President Prabowo Subianto has cited humanitarian reasons for such transfers since taking office in 2024.
More than 90 foreign nationals remain on death row in Indonesia for drug offences as of early November.
Recent repatriations include Frenchman Serge Atlaoui in February and British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford last month. – AFP
