Crime: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute

Serge Atlaoui, 51, France

Appeal rejected, June 22

Serge Atlaoui was arrested in 2005 during a police raid on a factory outside Jakarta that was producing the drug Ecstasy. According to Mr. Atlaoui, a welder by trade, he had moved to Indonesia from the Netherlands with the understanding that he would be working on machinery in an acrylics factory.

“He was never informed of the actual use of the machines, otherwise, as a married man and father of three children at the time, he wasn’t going to take the risk of going to Indonesia,” said his lawyer, Richard Sédillot.

Mr. Atlaoui was sentenced to death in 2007.

His case has drawn considerable attention in France, where news outlets have said that he would be the first Frenchman subjected to capital punishment since France abolished it in 1981.

France has been pressing Indonesia to spare him; on Thursday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius wrote in a letter to his Indonesian counterpart that “serious dysfunction” in the country’s legal system had denied Mr. Atlaoui his rights. On Saturday, Mr. Atlaoui got an unexpected reprieve pending another review of his case in a state court.

Mr. Atlaoui’s wife, Sabine, said that her husband had been mischaracterized in court as a leader of the drug ring. She said he had noticed soon after starting the job that there was suspicious activity at the factory, but that he had never taken part in manufacturing drugs. He tried to get out of the situation as soon as he could, but he was arrested before he could do so, she said.

“Overnight, we found ourselves in a nightmare,” she said. “I told myself, this can’t be reality, it isn’t possible for this kind of thing to happen.”

The couple married in 2007, after Mr. Atlaoui had been imprisoned but before he had been sentenced to death. They have since had one child, who is now 3 years old; they have three other children from previous marriages, all now in their 20s.

“When we are together, we give each other a lot of energy, strength and courage,” Mrs. Atlaoui said. “We give hope to each other, even if the situation is critical.”

She said she had never doubted her husband’s innocence. “He is an honest, respectful and very generous man,” she said.