Jakarta, Indonesia – For more than a decade, Mary Jane Veloso has been held in a prison in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, awaiting execution after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

This year her family was able to see her again for the first time in five years.

“Mary Jane has been here in Indonesia for a very long time. Before Mary Jane’s father and I die, we hope that she comes home and takes care of her children,” her mother Celia told Al Jazeera.

“It was a very long time ago. We want them back,” she added.

Like many Filipinos, Veloso sought work abroad because the money was better than at home.

She left her two sons with her mother and first went to Dubai, where she worked as a domestic worker for nine months.

After another domestic worker allegedly tried to rape her, Veloso quit her job and returned home to the Philippines, where she was approached by a woman named Maria Kristina Sergio who said she had a job for her in Malaysia.

Eager for another opportunity, Veloso accepted the offer, but when she arrived in Malaysia she discovered there was no work there.

Sergio, her contact, instead suggested Veloso take a vacation with her to Indonesia, but when the women landed at Yogyakarta’s Adisutjipto airport in April 2010, officials found 2.6 kg (5.7 pounds) of heroin in the suitcase 25 year old Veloso.

Six months later she was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death.

Despite a hard line on drugs from Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was first elected in 2014, Veloso has so far managed to evade the firing squad.

She won a last-minute reprieve in 2015 when seven foreigners and one Indonesian were present executedafter Sergio turned himself in to Philippine police on human trafficking charges and the government in Manila under then-President Benigno Aquino called for a review of Veloso’s case.

When Widodo enters his last months in officeVeloso’s family now hopes the outgoing president will approve a clemency request for the Filipino after he granted a rare pardon in March to another domestic worker who was also sentenced to death.

“Forced to go abroad”

Veloso’s supporters claim she is a victim of human trafficking.

According to the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), which is drawing attention to Veloso’s case, the were drugs “Secretly hidden in a bag given to her by Tintin’s brother [Sergio’s] boyfriend in Malaysia without Mary Jane’s knowledge, consent or intention.”

All of the women in the Veloso family came from Nueva Ecija, north of Manila on the island of Luzon, and were among the millions of Filipinos who worked abroad to support their families.

“Our life is very difficult, it is very difficult, we don’t have much [money] to eat,” explained her mother Celia Veloso. “That is why we are forced to make the decision to go abroad. All my daughters, four of them, all worked abroad.”

Mary Jane’s recruiters for the alleged Malaysia job, Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, were found guilty in January 2020 of running an alleged illegal recruitment network and sentenced to life in prison.

Veloso has also filed a lawsuit against the couple in the same court, but was unable to make a statement because it must be given in person and she is unable to do so because she is on death row in Indonesia.

“The only hurdle that is preventing us from moving forward at this time is for both governments, both the Indonesian and the Philippine governments, to agree on the formality… where this testimony will be taken,” said Joanna Concepcion, chairwoman of Migrante International , an organization that advocates for Migrante International Veloso.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told Al Jazeera he had not pursued the matter and referred questions to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

The Justice Department spokesman did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions.

Widodo and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office after Aquino, shared the same tough stance on drugs, with Duterte leading one brutal approachin which thousands of people died and which is now the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Instead of asking Indonesia for mercy, Widodo said Duterte gave the green light for Veloso’s execution in 2015. In the Philippines, where there is no death penalty, Duterte said he would simply respect the judicial process.

According to Migrante International’s Concepcion, the approach does not appear to have changed much since then Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June 2022.

“He continues the same policies and has not said publicly that this would change anything in Duterte’s actions,” she said.

Indonesia and the Philippines are founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Indonesia was the first country Marcos Jr. visited after being elected president.

“Maybe he’s playing it safe,” Concepcion added. “It was his first state visit as president at the time, so I am sure the agenda items he would discuss were very carefully planned and what specific topics his first state visit would focus on.”

In the first two years of Widodo’s first term 18 people, including two women, were executed. All were found guilty of drug-related offenses.

Under international law, where it exists, the death penalty should only be imposed for the “most serious crimes,” a threshold that does not include drug crimes.

According to Afif Abdul Qoyim, coordinator of the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBHM), an organization that campaigns against the death penalty, there have been no executions in Indonesia since July 2016, despite widespread criticism from national, regional and global human rights defenders.

Activists have called for a moratorium, but one is not officially in effect.

“[The president] He can still order an execution at any time, or the next government can also do so at the beginning of their reign,” Afif told Al Jazeera.

Keep the pressure on

Earlier this year, Jokowi gave grace to another migrant worker, Merri Utami, who was almost executed in 2016.

Although the cases of Merri Utami and Veloso share some similarities, Afif notes some key differences.

“One of the factors is probably nationality. “Merri Utami is Indonesian while Mary Jane is a foreign national,” he explained, adding that Indonesia often tried to suggest that foreigners were most involved in the drug trade.

Nevertheless, Mary Jane Veloso does not lose hope.

Although Marcos Jr. appears to have continued the Duterte approach in this case, on the sidelines of his visit to Indonesia, his Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo made a request for an “executive pardon” for Veloso during a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in Jakarta.

Now Veloso’s legal team is filing an appeal before Widodo leaves office.

“The truth is that the first clemency was for SBY [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president from 2004-2014]. “Mary Jane never asked Jokowi for mercy,” Veloso’s lawyer Agus Salim told Al Jazeera.

Indonesia’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 2024.

“We will continue to push until Widodo officially leaves office… We still hope that there will be some actions and developments,” Concepcion said.

Veloso’s family is eagerly awaiting developments.

Her eldest son Mark Danielle is now 20 years old,

“It’s hard growing up without my mom,” he said. “We really want to be with my mom and be able to see her every day, see her and hug her.”