JULY 10 (Reuters) — Filipino boxing superstar Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao visited an Indonesian prison on Friday (July 10) to meet a Filipina woman on death row for drug trafficking, hoping to draw attention to her case and get her sentence commuted.
Mary Jane Veloso won a last-minute reprieve from execution in April this year, after officials in Manila asked Indonesian President Joko Widodo to let her give evidence in an investigation into a network accused of recruiting her.
Pacquiao, one of many celebrities campaigning to save Veloso, prayed with her in Yogyakarta prison. She is currently residing there while testifying against a couple alleged to have recruited her to smuggle 2.6 kg of heroin into Indonesia.
“We’re hoping for help and (to) save her life and (the government will) grant our request,” Pacquiao said after his visit.
“We’re going to investigate, you know, the recruiter of Mary Jane because I believe, I think, according to my information, Mary Jane is innocent,” he added.
Pacquiao was later expected to meet Indonesian lawmakers in Jakarta to plead for clemency for Veloso.
Widodo has taken a tough stance on drug trafficking in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and ignored repeated pleas from foreign governments for clemency for their nationals.
Indonesia has executed 14 drug traffickers, mostly foreigners, this year, ending a five-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty.
