(CNN Philippines) – Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina maid who is on death row for drug trafficking in Indonesia, was surprisingly calm and happy and even made jokes on Saturday (April 25), a few hours before she received a letter setting the date of her execution.
Edre Olalia, a lawyer acting for Veloso, told CNN Sunday (April 26) that Veloso had telephoned her sister on Saturday at about 5:30 p.m. local time and said her execution will take place on Tuesday, April 28. Officials at the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta confirmed the same information.
RELATED: Veloso set to be shot on Tuesday
An embassy representative who attended the meeting at the Nusakambangan correctional facility – a maximum high security prison in Indonesia in Cilacap, Central Java – reported Saturday night that Veloso was issued the letter Notice of Execution but she, her lawyer, and the embassy representative did not sign it due to a pending second appeal. They were again issued a second letter indicating that Veloso refused to sign the letter Notice of Execution, which they then signed.
Veloso was arrested at the Yogyakarta Airport in March 2010 for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. In October of the same year, she was given the death sentence.
‘Happy and calm’
A Reuters report on Sunday (April 26) quoted Veloso’s lawyer, who said the Filipina on death row was surprisingly upbeat during her family’s visit the previous day.
The family paid Veloso another visit on Sunday – their second since she was sent to the island on Friday (April 24).
Atty. Olalia, while waiting for the permit to cross by boat to the island, told reporters: “We saw Mary Jane inside the prison, and it is a bit amazing because we saw her happy and calm. She even made jokes, which gives strength to her father, mother and siblings. She has gained some weight because she has nothing to do inside (the prison), but overall she is stable. She insists that she is innocent and still hopes she can be saved.”
Nine of the 10 death row inmates, including Veloso, have been given 72 hours notice ahead of their execution, according to a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office.
“So it basically means, there will not be any executions before 5 o’clock (5 a.m. local time (2200GMT on April 27)) on April 28, but of course the possibility of the execution will happen after the 5 o’clock deadline. But from our knowledge, the executions happen at 12 midnight (1700GMT) according to their practice,” Olalia said.
Aside from Veloso, nationals from Australia, Nigeria, Brazil and Ghana are also on Indonesia’s death row. A temporary reprieve was granted to a French citizen who will not be in the next round of executions.
Indonesia has harsh punishments for drug crimes and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Six executions have been carried out so far this year.
RELATED: Indonesian executions: 72-hour warning given to death row inmates
CNN Philippines’ Alex Ho, Brian Poe, and Reuters contributed to this report.
