Indonesians, too, appeal for #MaryJane

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, the 30-year-old Filipino mother of two on death row, is also getting support from Indonesians.

On Friday, April 24, the day she was transferred from Wirogunan Penitentiary in Yogyakarta to Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java – dubbed execution island – the hashtag #MaryJane became the second top trend on Twitter.

The trend was started by Indonesian Twitter celebrity Rahung Nasution, a celebrity chef, who tweeted endlessly since the news of Mary Jane’s transfer to Nusakambangan island broke last night.

Jokowi tidak sedang berperang melawan narkoba. Dia sedang mengeksekusi perempuan miskin. Seperti TKI di Saudi!! #MaryJane

— rahung nasution (@rahung) April 24, 2015

“Jokowi is not battling drugs. He is executing poor women, like the migrant workers in Arab Saudi!! #MaryJane,” tweeted Nasution, referring to the two Indonesian domestic workers executed in Saudi Arabia last week. (READ: Indonesia protests beheading of domestic worker in Saudi Arabia)

One Twitter user, Dayu Maharani, tweeted, “I’ve been feeling sad reading Rahung’s timeline, and now I’m crying after seeing a photo of her kids.”

dari tengah malam sedih baca timeline @rahung, dan sekarang nangis setelah liat foto anak2nya di @RapplerID

— Dayu Maharani (@missdayuu) April 24, 2015

On Friday, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) held a press conference and called on President Joko Widodo to give Mary Jane a chance to file her second case review.

Commisioner Azriana said that “Mary Jane is a human trafficking victim. She suffers the same fate as our migrant workers abroad.”

Indonesian lawyers filed the second case review request before the 4 pm deadline  on Friday. They presented new evidence from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on the alleged recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, which would show that Mary Jane is a victim of human trafficking. (READ: Charges filed vs Mary Jane’s alleged recruiter)

Azriana also demanded the president to amend Indonesia’s law. She said that sentencing a drug courier to death will not stop drug trade, and that saving Mary Jane would become a gateway to save 227 Indonesian migrant workers on death row abroad. – Rappler.com