Two elderly Dutch nationals to be sent home after a decade in Indonesia prison

Prisoners were both convicted of drug trafficking offences and one was on death row before Tuesday’s deal between governments

Indonesia is set to repatriate two elderly Dutch nationals who have already spent more than a decade each in jail after being found guilty of drug trafficking offences.

Officials of Indonesia and the Netherlands signed an agreement on Tuesday for the return of two men, one of whom was facing the death penalty, while the other was facing life imprisonment.

Siegfried Mets, 74, was sentenced to death in 2008 after he was found guilty of smuggling a shipment of 600,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Indonesia. He has been held in a prison in Jakarta for 17 years.

Ali Tokman, 65, was sentenced to death 2015 after he was arrested at the airport for smuggling 6kg of MDMA, a psychoactive drug. He has served 11 years of his life sentence.

The agreement was signed by officials in both Jakarta and Amsterdam after the Dutch king and foreign ministry requested the men’s release.

Both are in poor health, according to Indonesia’s senior law minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra, left, speak and Netherlands Ambassador to Indonesia Marc Gerritsen, listen, during a press conference after the signing ceremony the practical arrangement between the government of Indonesia and Netherland in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Dutch government said it requested the repatriation of the two men "on humanitarian grounds".

The request was approved by Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto, Mr Mahendra, who signed the agreement at a ceremony in Jakarta, said.

He said he expected the men to be flown to Amsterdam on 8 December.

Netherlands is "very grateful that Indonesia allows these two Dutch detainees to be closer to their families", Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Marc Gerritsen, said. He said the agreed prison transfer illustrates the good cooperation between the two countries in the areas of justice and law.

Dutch foreign minister David van Weel also signed it at a separate event in Amsterdam, witnessed by delegations from both countries.

Indonesia's Chief Minister for Law and Human Rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Marc Gerritsen, attend a meeting as they agree on the transfer of two Dutch nationals convicted of drug crimes, in Jakarta, Indonesia (REUTERS)

Mr Yusril earlier noted that five Dutch nationals are serving criminal sentences in Indonesia, but the Dutch government sought the repatriation of only two of them.

Upon arrival in Amsterdam, the men will continue serving their sentences in Dutch prisons under the terms of the bilateral prisoner transfer treaty.

Mets's death sentence will effectively convert to life imprisonment under Dutch law, which abolished capital punishment in 1870 and does not recognise foreign executions.

Indonesia has around 530 prisoners, including nearly 100 foreigners, on death row, according to the law ministry, many of them convicted of drug offences. Indonesia's last executions, of a citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.

Indonesia, under President Prabowo’s administration, has repatriated several foreign prisoners through bilateral agreements with their respective countries.

Those sent home include a Filipina who had faced the death penalty for drug offences, five Australians convicted of heroin trafficking, and two British nationals who had been sentenced to death and life imprisonment for smuggling drugs into Indonesia.