Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino worker who was on Indonesia’s death row for 14 years for drug smuggling, finally returned to the Philippines on Wednesday, December 18, under a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries.
It was an emotional scene as Veloso reunited with her parents, sons, siblings, extended family, and supporters in the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, where she would be detained. But questions remain on Veloso’s chance at clemency for the drug trafficking conviction and her own ongoing case against her recruiters, whom she claimed duped her into becoming a drug mule.
Rappler’s Michelle Abad speaks to Edre Olalia, one of Veloso’s private lawyers and chairperson of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, to talk about her return and steps forward.
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