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 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.

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)

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,