Foreign Correspondent: July 7

On Tuesday Foreign Correspondent reports on Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina maid who escaped immediate execution when two of the Bali 9 were put to death.

But what of her future now?

With just minutes to spare, mother-of-two Mary Jane Veloso escaped the firing squad that executed Australia’s Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Foreign Correspondent reveals that a Darwin barrister, Felicity Gerry, played a key role in bringing about this reprieve.

How was she saved – and will Mary Jane make it home to her children?

Zoe Daniel reports.

Deep into the night on Indonesia’s “Execution Island”, nine condemned drug traffickers await a firing squad’s volley of bullets. Across the water, families and supporters gather in despair.

But when word finally arrives, one family erupts in joy. A single life has been spared – Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso has won a temporary stay of execution.

Mary Jane Veloso’s reprieve came after a huge upwelling of public support back home in the Philippines. But, as Foreign Correspondent reveals, a key role was also played by a small team of human rights lawyers in the Philippines and Australia.

“We connected across the ocean if you like. I’ve never even met her but there I am sitting in my office and I’ve got the piece of law that can save her.”
– Felicity Gerry, Darwin barrister

Reporter Zoe Daniel tells how the legal team is fronting up to its next challenge: getting Mary Jane off death row and back home to her family. If successful, their argument might save not only Mary Jane but also other drug mules facing execution.

Mary Jane’s lawyers say she was not trafficking drugs when she was caught with 2.6 kilos of heroin. They say she was in fact a trafficked person – poor, vulnerable and deceived – and should be set free.

“She was not selling, she was not buying, she was not using.”
– Filipino lawyer, Edre Olalia

Now her fate is intertwined with that of the woman she accuses of duping her into carrying drugs, her former neighbour Kristina Sergio. If Kristina Sergio is convicted of illegally recruiting her, Mary Jane Veloso’s chances of winning her freedom grow.

But in the court – and in the street when she talks to Zoe Daniel – Kristina protests her innocence. Meanwhile Mary Jane Veloso waits on death row.

“If you shoot her, you might as well shoot every exploited person.”
– Felicity Gerry, Darwin barrister

Tuesday, July 7 at 8pm on ABC