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.

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

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.

Indonesia and France signed an agreement on Friday on the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row for drug offences, a senior Indonesian minister said. Serge Atlaoui, who has been in jail in Indonesia since 2005,

A Frenchman on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offences left for France on Tuesday, with his lawyer saying he was "happy and calm" ahead of returning home.

Indonesia has signed a deal to send home an ailing French national on death row for drug offenses. Serge Atlaoui, 61, has spent almost 20 years in an Indonesian prison.

Paris officially requested Atlaoui's transfer in a letter from the minister of justice dated Dec. 19, according to Minister Yusril.

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.