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.

Serge Atlaoui, 61, left for Paris on board a KLM flight via Amsterdam, senior Indonesian law and human rights official I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram told AFP on Tuesday evening.

Atlaoui’s lawyer Richard Sedillot said he would work to have his client’s sentence “adapted” so that the father of four could be released.

“I am delighted that the fight we have led has resulted in the victory of life over death,” Sedillot told AFP.

Indonesia, which has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, has released half a dozen high-profile detainees in recent weeks.

They include a Filipina mother on death row and the last five members of the “Bali Nine” drug ring.

Atlaoui was tight-lipped and wore a face mask at an earlier news conference after he was driven in a black van from Jakarta’s Salemba prison to the city’s main airport and handed over to French police officers.

French ambassador Fabien Penone thanked Indonesian authorities for allowing the transfer.

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