F

ilipino drug convict Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso intends to use her temporary reprieve to prove her innocence, especially after her alleged trafficker, Maria Kristina Sergio, turned herself into police custody shortly before Veloso'€™s scheduled execution.

Veloso'€™s lawyer, Agus Salim, told reporters on Wednesday that Veloso'€™s family had been relieved when they heard she had been granted a temporary reprieve and that she would exhaust all legal avenues to seek clemency.

Veloso'€™s legal team is expected to file for a third case review appeal at the Supreme Court after an investigation on Sergio began.

'€œWe want to prove that she was just a migrant worker who was trafficked into becoming a drug mule,'€ Agus said.

Veloso was among nine death row inmates scheduled to face a firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday for drug trafficking charges.

She was arrested in possession of 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta in 2010.

The Attorney General'€™s Office said that Veloso'€™s execution had been postponed after the Philippine government said Veloso was needed to testify as a witness for her alleged trafficker.

Veloso was allegedly one of Sergio'€™s trafficking victims.

Previously, Veloso'€™s legal team had claimed that Veloso was traveling to Yogyakarta because she was promised work in the city. Veloso claimed she was unaware that her luggage had been stuffed with heroin by Sergio.

Veloso'€™s defense team, however, acknowledged that her legal fight would be difficult.

Agus said a Supreme Court regulation stipulated that a case review appeal could only be filed once, which contradicted the Constitutional Court'€™s ruling that appeals could be filed multiple times.

Veloso previously filed two case review appeals but both were rejected.

Separately, University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta law expert Chairul Huda said that filing another case review appeal would likely be futile for Veloso.

'€œHer only hope is to have the President grant her clemency or for the AGO to file for a cassation,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Veloso arrived on Wednesday afternoon at Wirogunan prison in Yogyakarta after being transported from the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java.

Attorney General M. Prasetyo said Veloso was granted a stay of execution because her alleged boss has been arrested in the Philippines, and the authorities there had requested Indonesian assistance in pursuing the case.

'€œThis delay did not cancel the execution. We just want to give a chance in relation to the legal process in the Philippines,'€ Prasetyo said.

Veloso'€™s mother, Celia, told Manila radio station DZBB from Indonesia that what happened was '€œa miracle'€.

'€œWe thought we'€™d lost my daughter. I really thank God. What my daughter Mary Jane said earlier was true, '€˜If God wants me to live, even if just by a thread or just in the final minute, I will live'€™,'€ Celia Veloso said as quoted by the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, human rights campaigners urged President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to examine his death penalty policy based on the case of Veloso, highlighting that many drug convicts may be victims of trafficking.

The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has recorded an increasing number every year of reports of women being trafficked, the majority of whom were later forced into labor, prostitution and the drug trade.

Komnas Perempuan recorded 614 reports of such cases last year. Meanwhile, 310 cases have been reported between January and April this year.

Komnas Perempuan also found that the largest number of Indonesian female drug convicts, who were also trafficking victims, were in Malaysia.

The agency recorded that around 120 Indonesian women are facing the death penalty in Malaysia for drug convictions.

'€œThe case of Mary Jane has opened our eyes that drug crimes are also related to human trafficking. It'€™s a delicate matter and so we must approach the issue carefully,'€ Komnas Perempuan deputy chief Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said.

- Bambang Muryanto contributed to this story from Yogyakarta.