The family of Philippine death row prisoner Mary Jane Veloso, who was moved to the prison island of
Nusakambangan in Central Java, arrive at Soekarno Hatta airport on their way to visit her, in Jakarta yesterday.
DPA
Manila
The two sons of a Filipino woman on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking have pleaded for their mother’s life in a video appeal to the son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Mary Jane Veloso, 30, was moved yesterday to the island where executions are to be held, according to the Philippines’ foreign affairs department.
Her sons Mark Daniel, 12, and Mark Darren, six, flew to Jakarta on Thursday to see her.
In the video message recorded before leaving Manila, Mark Daniel asked Widodo’s son, 19-year-old Kaesang Pangarep, to ask his father to stop his mother’s execution.“Kaesang, please help my mother,” he said, as his younger brother played around beside him. “Please tell your father not to execute her. We beg you to let her free and not execute her.”
Mark Daniel later sang a Filipino song for her mother, telling her to be strong.
“Don’t lose hope, happiness will come soon,” he sang. “Always remember that there will be a new day full of joy.”
Veloso was arrested at the Yogyakarta airport in 2009 when 2.6 kilograms of heroin was found sewn into the lining of her suitcase. The Philippines has appealed for clemency for Veloso, and diplomats and lawyers filed a last-minute appeal stressing that the Filipino mother was a victim of international drug traffickers.
