CILACAP, Indonesia — Eight drug convicts were executed by an Indonesian firing squad early on Wednesday but a Filipina who was on death row with the Australians, Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian was unexpectedly not among them, local media reports said.
The execution of Filipina drug convict Mary Jane Velosos by firing squad was delayed at the last minute after one of her recruiters surrendered to police in the Philippines, the attorney general's spokesman said on Wednesday.
"The execution of Mary Jane (Veloso) has been postponed because there was a request from the Philippine president related to a perpetrator suspected of human trafficking who surrendered herself in the Philippines," said Tony Spontana, spokesman for the attorney general. "Mary Jane has been asked to testify."
Philippine President Benigno Aquino had earlier made one last appeal to the Indonesian government to spare Veloso, among nine prisoners set to be executed for drug trafficking as she could be a vital witness in prosecuting drug syndicates.
It was Aquino's third personal appeal, after the Indonesian attorney general rejected the Philippines' request on Monday for a second judicial review of the case of Veloso, who her lawyers say merely served as an unknowing mule to drug traffickers.