Despite pleas from all over the world, including the United Nations, to grant them a reprieve, eight prisoners at the Nusakambangan prison island in Indonesia faced the firing squad at around 3 a.m. Wednesday (3 p.m. EST Tuesday).
The executions of Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Raheem Agbaje Salami and Okwudili Oyatanze, Ghanaian Martin Anderson, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and Indonesian Zainal Abidin proceeded, with Indonesian president Joko Widodo unmoved by the appeals. According to Reuters, Australia and Brazil will be recalling its envoys in Jakarta in protest of the act.
But the lone female among the convicted drug smugglers, a Filipina named Mary Jane Veloso, was spared at the last-minute, following a report from the Philippine government that the woman who recruited Veloso as a drug mule surrendered to the authorities, reported the Inquirer.
Her reprieve, however, does not guarantee the execution will no longer be carried out, but the Indonesian government is willing to review her case in light of this new evidence. The Philippines intends to make Veloso a state witness in their case against her recruiter, Mary Christine Gulles Pasadilla, for human trafficking.
Meanwhile, Veloso's mother, Celia, called this turn of events a "miracle."
"We are so happy, I can't believe it. I can't believe my child will live," Celia said in an interview with radio station DZMM in the Philippines.
"We thought we've 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,'" she added.
Veloso, 30, was arrested last April 2010 at the Adisucipto International Airport after the authorities discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. The court found her guilty of smuggling drugs from Indonesia to Malaysia, but Veloso appealed for a judicial review saying she wasn't provided a translator during the proceedings. This review was rejected and her execution was then set.
Veloso's story has been drawing attention in the international community and has triggered an outpouring of support especially from women's groups. Upon learning of her fate, #MaryJaneLives became a trending topic worldwide, according to Rappler.
