British grandma who’s been on death row for over a decade could end up with horrific fate if sentence isn’t overturned
Lindsay Sandiford has spent over a decade behind in bars in Indonesia, but a worse fate could be in store
A British grandmother in an Indonesian prison is facing a dire outcome, unless her sentence is overturned.
Lindsay Sandiford, 67, is currently serving time for drug smuggling after she was caught attempting to smuggle £1.6 million of cocaine into Indonesia from Bangkok.
Sandiford, from Cheltenham, claimed she was pressured into carrying the drugs by a gang who had made threats against her children.
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She's already served over a decade behind bars in an overcrowded prison, as she's currently in Kerobokan prison, which is supposed to hold 320 prisoners, but in 2017 numbers were at almost 1,300.
Speaking to the court during her trial in 2013, Sandiford apologised profusely for her part in the drug offences as she said: "I would like to begin by apologising to the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people for my involvement.
"I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them."
While in court, her lawyers also argued she was suffering from mental health problems when she undertook the drug smuggling.
The grandmother is facing a death sentence as her punishment but no date has ever been set for her execution, so the grandmother has been left in limbo awaiting her fate.
Yet there is still hope that Sandiford might be released and avoid her death sentence punishment.
The 68-year-old would usually have been killed by a firing squad on Indonesia's 'execution island' if her sentence isn't overturned.
Nusa Kambangan island in Cilacap regency, Central Java - also known as Pulau Hantu or Ghost Island - is a site where executions are often carried out, typically in the island's Nirbaya Valley.
Snakes were reportedly released on the island to deter inmates from trying to escape from its seven prisons.
However due to Indonesia's law change, which was introduced at the beginning of this year, it could see her death sentence be changed into a life prison term as she has managed more than 10 years of good behaviour behind bars.
Yet others are still campaigning to see her returned home and to be released from the prison completely.
Human rights barrister Felicity Gerry KC, who visited Sandiford in 2015, spoke out in March this year as she called for the grandmother to be sent back to Britain.
She said: "Indonesia is taking an important step in recognising the need to commute the sentences of those subject to the death penalty, especially women.
"Lindsay co-operated with the authorities and explained levels of coercion that should have at least mitigated her position.
"The Government should be taking active steps to facilitate her return to the UK, either to serve a sentence near her family or to consider her release."
Niamh Spence