Indonesian grandmother freed from Malaysia death row after 15 years returns home

An Indonesian grandmother who spent about 15 years on loss of life row in Malaysia for drug trafficking has returned dwelling after receiving clemency, in a case that rights teams say exposes the systematic exploitation of poor migrant girls in cross-border drug operations.

Ani Anggraeni – a reputation her trafficker placed on her passport with out her data – boarded a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta on Thursday after the governor of Penang granted her a pardon on 19 March, simply earlier than Eid al-Fitr.

The grandmother, 66, whose actual title is Asih, had by no means travelled overseas earlier than she was deceived into carrying medication throughout borders in 2011.

“I really feel prefer it’s unreal, however it’s actual,” she advised the South China Morning Put up. “I can solely be grateful to return to Indonesia and meet my household.”

Asih left Indonesia in 2011 after a girl named Duwi supplied her work as a carer in Malaysia, promising a excessive wage and overlaying her lodging and journey.

However with out her data, Duwi falsified Asih’s title on her passport and instructed her to not use her actual title when travelling, a tactic Hayat, the Kuala Lumpur-based anti-death penalty group that later took up her case, described as a typical modus operandi utilized by human traffickers to deceive immigration authorities.

On arrival in Malaysia, Asih was directed to journey to Vietnam to gather a suitcase and ship it to Duwi’s relative within the northern state of Penang. She was arrested on the Penang airport on 21 June 2011 after authorities discovered 3.87kg of methamphetamine within the bag. A Malaysian courtroom sentenced her to loss of life beneath the Harmful Medicine Act in 2012.

Throughout her time in jail, Asih survived endometrial most cancers, underwent a hysterectomy and skilled a number of incidents of abuse, in keeping with information stories.

In a joint assertion, Hayat and Jakarta’s Group Authorized Assist Institute stated Asih’s case was about greater than a standard drug cost.

“It’s a profound narrative of deception, exploitation, and systemic vulnerability,” they stated, including that it highlighted “the insidious methods girls are ensnared by human trafficking syndicates, manipulated into illicit operations with out ever absolutely comprehending the fact of their circumstances”.

The teams stated Asih and girls in comparable conditions weren’t masterminds however “victims of a flawed system that has failed to guard them”, and known as her repatriation a crucial authorized and humanitarian precedent.

No less than eight Indonesian girls remained imprisoned in Malaysia after getting their loss of life sentences commuted, the teams stated, including that they typically got here from impoverished households, have been recruited with job provides or romantic advances, and coerced into carrying luggage containing medication with out their data.

Asih’s launch comes as Malaysia continues to work via the results of its 2023 resolution to abolish the necessary loss of life penalty, giving judges discretion in 11 offences and permitting resentencing for these already on loss of life row.

The variety of folks on loss of life row for drug offences fell from 705 in 2024 to 40 in 2025, in keeping with Hayat. An execution moratorium has been in place since 2018, with the final identified execution carried out in 2017.