Donna Nelson has been returned to Australia as part of a sensitive and secretive prisoner transfer, 7NEWS has confirmed.
The Perth grandmother, 60, was convicted of smuggling drugs into Japan after she was arrested at Narita International Airport in January 2023 with narcotics in her suitcase.
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The former Greens candidate and prominent Aboriginal health advocate and community leader has always maintained she was innocent.
She had argued she was tricked by an online love interest.
At trial, a Japanese court accepted Nelson had been the victim of a romance scam, but convicted her on the basis that she ought to have known the risks involved.
Nelson was convicted and sentenced to six-years in prison.
She has already served three years and nine months in custody.
West Australian grandmother Donna Nelson was jailed in Japan. Credit: 7NEWS
It is understood Nelson will be required to serve the remainder of her sentence in a Perth correctional facility.
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Prisoner transfers of this type are rare and involve diplomatic sensitivities.
At this stage the federal and state governments have declined to comment publicly.
Nelson’s loved ones have long said she struggled under tough conditions in Japanese prisons, with limited contact with her family.
A transfer to an Australian prison is understood to have been in the works since Nelson’s appeal failed in September 2025.
A month later it was revealed she would make no further appeal against her conviction.
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