British grandmother who spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia is to be sent back to the UK
A grandmother who spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia is to return to the UK.
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Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death on the paradise island of Bali after she was convicted of trafficking drugs.
Police found cocaine worth an estimated $2.14m hidden in a false bottom in her suitcase when she arrived there on a flight from Thailand in 2013.
After spending over a decade behind bars in Indonesia, she will be repatriated as part of a deal signed by the Indonesian government.
A government source said today: “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed.”
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The British embassy in Jakarta directed all queries to the Indonesian government.
A press conference for the 'release of two British nationals' was scheduled for later Tuesday by Indonesian authorities and the British ambassador to Indonesia, according to a release by the coordinating Ministry of Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correction.
Sandiford admitted trafficking the drugs but said she only did it because a criminal gang had threatened to kill her son.
In 2015 she told of her fear at being sentenced to death. “My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell,” she said.
“I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.”
She was facing execution by firing squad.
Indonesia has recently freed other smugglers serving similar sentences as it relaxes its notoriously tough anti-drug laws.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's administration has moved to repatriate high-profile drug offenders back to their home countries.