Indonesia has handed over to French authorities a man on death row for drug offences who will start his return to his home country late on Tuesday, the latest in a series of foreign drug convicts repatriated from the Southeast Asian nation.

Indonesian authorities are set to return an ailing French national who has been on death row in the Southeast Asian country, under an arrangement between the two nations.

Arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death in 2007, Atlaoui has long maintained his innocence, claiming he was unaware of illegal activities on his worksite. View on euronews

Serge Atlaoui (center), a Frenchman on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offenses, looks on during a press conference at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, after leaving Salemba prison ahead of his repatriation to France on Feb. 4. (Photo: AFP)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is likely to sign an agreement with France before the end of this month, over the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row on charges of drug offences, a senior minister said on Jan 21.

A French national held on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences has left prison to return to France as part of an agreement made between both countries. Serge Atlaoui, 61, was accused of being a "chemist" by Indonesian authorities and arrested in 2005 at a factory in Jakarta,

A Frenchman reprieved after 18 years on death row in Indonesia for alleged drug offences landed back in France on Wednesday, an airport source said. Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.

Indonesia was set to repatriate a Frenchman on Tuesday who has spent two decades on death row for drug offences, a senior minister said, joining a list of long-term prisoners sent home by Jakarta in recent months.