Yogyakarta (Indonesia) (AFP) - Boxing superstar Manny
Pacquiao visited a Filipina on death row in Indonesia on Friday, with
the convict breaking down in tears as she prayed behind bars with the
Philippine sporting hero.
Mary Jane Veloso was sentenced to death in
Indonesia after being arrested in 2009 with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds)
of heroin sewn into the lining of her suitcase.
She had been due
to face the firing squad along with other foreign drug convicts in April
but was granted a temporary reprieve after a woman suspected of
recruiting her was arrested in the Philippines.
Indonesian
authorities have insisted the case of Veloso, who has always maintained
her innocence claiming that human-traffickers duped her, has only been
postponed while legal proceedings run their course in the Philippines.
"We're
hoping to help save Mary Jane's life, I think Mary Jane is a victim of
human-trafficking," Pacquiao said after visiting the single mother of
two young children in Wirogunan prison on the main island of Java.
During
a 30-minute meeting, Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee prayed with Veloso.
The convict broke down in tears as she prayed, a government official who
witnessed the meeting told reporters, and at one point tightly embraced
the boxing star.
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Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao hugs Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine death row inmate, as hi …
They swapped gifts, with
Veloso giving Pacquiao a blue scarf emblazoned with his nickname
"Pacman", and the boxer giving her money. However prison officials said
they would keep the money for her as it was against the rules for
inmates to have cash. They did not say how much it was.
Pacquiao,
who was in Indonesia to film a television advert, was also hoping to
raise her case with President Joko Widodo during a visit to the capital
Jakarta later Friday.
Her case attracted huge attention in both
Indonesia and the Philippines, with near daily rallies of support and
celebrities urging Jakarta to show her mercy.
Pacquiao is an
international star who last made global headlines in May when he was
beaten by Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in what was dubbed "the fight of
the century".
Widodo has vowed there will be no clemency for
drug traffickers on death row as Indonesia is facing an "emergency" due
to rising narcotics use.
Seven other foreign drug convicts and one
Indonesian were executed as planned on the prison island of
Nusakambangan in late April, sparking an international outcry.
