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.

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.

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.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - 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.

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.

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.

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)

Jakarta and Paris agreed to his transfer. In the agreement, Jakarta said Atlaoui was allowed to be returned on "humanitarian grounds" because he was ill. Atlaoui was driven from Salemba prison in Jakarta and escorted to the city's main airport on Tuesday,