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.

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, where dozens of kilos (pounds) of drugs were found.

A Frenchman on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences left prison on Tuesday ahead of his transfer to France, officials told French news agency AFP.

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.

Indonesian authorities have escorted an ailing French national who has been on death row to the airport in Jakarta as his return to France got underway following an agreement 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

After 17 years on death row for drug offenses in Indonesia, Serge Atlaoui left Salemba prison in Jakarta on Tuesday ahead of his transfer back to France.