France requests transfer of death row inmate from Indonesia

France has sent Indonesia an official request to transfer a French death row inmate imprisoned on drug charges for nearly 20 years, a senior Indonesian minister told AFP on Saturday.

Serge Atlaoui, a 61-year-old welder, was arrested in 2005 in a drugs factory outside Jakarta where authorities accused him of being a "chemist".

Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for traffickers and has executed foreigners in the past.

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In recent weeks, the Indonesian government has agreed to transfer a series of high-profile foreign detainees on death row, including a Filipina mom and the last five members of the so-called 'Bali Nine' drug ring.

"We have received a formal letter requesting the transfer of Serge Atlaoui," senior Indonesian law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra told AFP.

He added that the request would be discussed in "early January" after the holidays.

Atlaoui has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.

He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court in 2007 increased the sentence to death on appeal.

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Despite ongoing negotiations for prisoner transfers, the Indonesian government recently signalled that it will resume executions -- on hiatus since 2016 -- of drug convicts on death row.