Indonesia to repatriate two Dutch men, including one on death row

Indonesia and the Netherlands have signed a deal to return two elderly Dutch nationals jailed in Indonesia for drug offences - one on death row and the other serving a life sentence.

The Dutch government had requested their repatriation "on humanitarian grounds", it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Both men have been experiencing health problems, Indonesian authorities said.

Siegfried Mets, 74, was sentenced to death in 2008 for smuggling 600,000 ecstasy pills. Ali Tokman, 65, was sentenced to death in 2015 for smuggling 6kg of MDMA, but later had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

Mets is imprisoned in the capital Jakarta, while Tokman is held in the city of Surabaya.

In its statement, the Dutch government said it "highly appreciates the cooperation of the Indonesian authorities".

The Indonesian government approved their repatriation in October and said that the fate of the two men would be decided by the Dutch government.

The pair are set to return to Amsterdam on 8 December, Indonesian authorities said.

The repatriation agreement was signed in Jakarta on Tuesday by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia's coordinating minister for law and human rights. Dutch foreign minister David van Weel signed the deal virtually.

Marc Gerritsen, the Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia who attended the ceremony in Jakarta, said he was "very grateful" that Indonesia has allowed the two men to be "closer to their families".

Yusril previously said that there were five Dutch nationals serving criminal sentences in Indonesia - though the Dutch government only requested for the repatriation of the two.

There are around 500 prisoners on death row in Indonesia, according to the law ministry. Many of them were convicted of drug offences.

The country has been repatriating foreigners on death row for health reasons.

Last month, Indonesia repatriated two British prisoners convicted of drug offences: 69-year-old Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother who was sentenced to death in Bali in 2013; and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi, who was arrested in 2014 and handed a life sentence.

In February, French national Serge Atlaoui returned home after being held on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences.