Jakarta. Yemen is in talks with Indonesia for a possible prisoner transfer, as Jakarta grows more accepting of the idea of allowing foreign convicts to serve their jail time in their home country.

Yemeni Ambassador Salem Ahmed Abdulrahman Balfakeeh had spoken to Chief Legal Affairs Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra to help arrange the transfer, the Indonesian side revealed in a press statement. Five Yemenis are undergoing legal processes in Indonesia for an undisclosed cause. Preliminary checking has shown that three Yemenis are serving their sentence in Indonesia. There is also an unnamed Indonesian being held in Yemen for trafficking.

Salem had told Yusril that the Yemeni convicts had been “well-behaved” at the correctional facilities. It was then that the envoy asked Indonesia to let them serve out the remainder of the sentence in Yemen, be it via a prisoner transfer or other forms of legal cooperation. The senior minister said that Indonesia was open to the negotiations.

“We request that Yemen to make an official [prisoner transfer] request via its legal minister or related authorities. In principle, we can discuss this possibility, but everything still has to follow the legal procedures,” Yusril said.

Indonesia does not have a specific law that regulates the transfer of convicted persons. The bill on such transfer is still subject to deliberations by Indonesian lawmakers. In the meantime, foreign countries can have their convicts sent back home through a bilateral deal. But Yusril admitted that such an agreement would take time and intense coordination.

Under President Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia has returned several foreign prisoners, including the Filipina drug convict Mary Jane Veloso and the ailing French man Serge Atlaoui. Veloso set foot in Manila in December 2024 after being on Indonesia's death row for nearly 15 years. Atlaoui had spent almost two decades in Indonesian prison for drug offenses.

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