 After serious political pressure from France and her allies, the New Zealand government agreed to a United Nations arbitration ruling in July 1986 that saw the pair transferred to French custody on the island of Hao in French Polynesia.Prieur's husband, Joel Prieur, an employee of the Defense Department, was posted to Hao shortly after she was exiled there.On 6 May 1988 she was returned to France because she was pregnant, and was heralded as a national hero.