Mary Jane Veloso excluded from next round of executions –Indonesian official

Mary Jane Veloso is not included in the next batch of convicts to be executed in Indonesia, a Jakarta Post report said over the weekend.
The report, dated April 30, quoted Indonesia Attorney General Prasetyo as saying that they "respect the legal process that is taking place in the Philippines."
Veloso, sentenced to death for bringing 2.6 kilograms of heroin to the Yogyakarta Airport in 2010, has claimed that she was duped into bringing the illegal drugs to Indonesia by her recruiters.
Two people are currently facing trial in Nueva Ecija in the Philippines for allegedly sending Veloso to Indonesia from Malaysia with illegal drugs secretly stashed in her luggage. 
Granting the Philippine government's request, Indonesia last year gave Veloso a last-minute reprieve to allow her to testify against her recruiters. 
Indonesia has said it will resume executions this year, but no date has been given.
Sought for comment, lawyer Edre Olalia of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), which is representing the Veloso family in the case against Veloso's recruiters, welcomed Prasetyo's statement.
"It is with a sigh of relief to know her life is rightfully spared again even as we will leave no stone unturned to legally vindicate her or work harder for her clemency or both," he said in a text message to GMA News Online.
In a statement issued earlier in the day, the NUPL asked the government "to finalize the mode and manner of how, when and where Mary Jane will testify forthwith."
A year after Veloso's reprieve, the Philippine government has yet to agree on the manner by which she will testify against her recruiters.
In its statement, the NUPL also urged the Aquino administration to renew its call for clemency so that she could finally be removed from death row in Indonesia.
Noting that Veloso has been on death row for six years already, the NUPL said the government should "reopen official channels and strongly appeal for clemency."
"We cannot twiddle our thumbs and be obsessively compulsive with the coming elections and leave nobody looking after Mary Jane while she is waiting on death row," the group said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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