A British grandmother sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking has been repatriated to the UK on humanitarian grounds after nine years on death row. Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was convicted in 2013 for smuggling cocaine worth an estimated $2.14m into Bali.
Sandiford was flown from Bali to London via Doha on Friday alongside Shahab Shahabadi, 36, a British-Iranian man serving a life sentence for drug offences. The pair were handed over to UK authorities under a bilateral agreement signed last month between Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and British foreign minister Yvette Cooper.
Indonesian officials confirmed Sandiford is 'seriously ill', while Shahabadi suffers from 'various serious illnesses, including mental health issues'. Matthew Downing, Britain's deputy ambassador to Indonesia, said the priority upon their arrival in the UK will be health assessments and any necessary treatment or rehabilitation.
Sandiford was arrested in 2012 after customs officers discovered cocaine hidden in a false bottom of her suitcase. She admitted the offence but claimed she had been coerced by a drug syndicate that threatened to kill her son. Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, but has recently repatriated several high-profile detainees, including the last five members of the 'Bali Nine' drug ring.
As of August, nearly 600 inmates remain on death row in Indonesia, including around 90 foreigners. The country last carried out executions in 2016.
