Condemned Woman Given 11th-Hour Reprieve From Firing Squad

Mary Jane Veloso was due to die on Nusakambangan Island before a request from her home country.

The only woman due to be executed along with eight other people in Indonesia overnight was given a last-minute reprieve from the Indonesian Attorney General.

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Veloso, 30-year-old mother-of-two was arrested with 2.6kg of heroin at Adisucipto International airport in Yogyakarta in 2010.

She was sentenced to death in 2010 and had her appeal for clemency rejected by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in March this year. As the eight other men were led to a floodlit clearing to be shot this morning, Veloso was left behind.

"The execution of Mary Jane has been postponed due to the request of the Philippines President in relation to an alleged human trafficker who recently gave herself up in the Philippines,” Attorney General spokesman Tony Spontana said this morning.

Veloso was needed to testify in a human trafficking case.

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The Jakarta Post reports that Veloso is needed as a witness to a case involving Maria Kristina Sergio, who handed herself in to police on Tuesday.

It will be claimed that Veloso was tricked into carrying drugs into Indonesia by a trafficking syndicate. The stay of execution does not mean she will not be killed at a later date.

Speaking on Philippines radio this morning, Veloso's mother was ecstatic.

"We are so happy, I can't believe it. I can't believe my child will live," she said. "Miracles do come true."