Jakarta, Sept. 26 -- Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the Indonesian government respects the Philippine government's decision to grant Mary Jane Veloso an absolute pardon.

According to Yusril, under an agreement between the two countries, responsibility for supervising Veloso, who had been sentenced to death in a narcotics smuggling case in Indonesia, had been transferred to Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

"The Indonesian government is aware of this, and it has also been widely reported by the media," Mahendra told ANTARA in Jakarta on Saturday.

He said the agreement was reciprocal. If an Indonesian citizen serving a sentence in the Philippines we...