Final hope of British grandmother who has spent 11 years awaiting execution on death row in Indonesian prison
A British grandmother currently facing a death sentence in Indonesia currently has one final hope of making it back to the UK alive.
Back in May 2012, legal secretary Lindsay Sandiford was arrested upon arrival at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport where she was accused of trying to smuggle £1.6 million worth of cocaine into the island from Bangkok, Thailand.
Sandiford had argued that she'd only agreed to smuggle the drugs as her children back in the UK were allegedly being threatened and added that she had agreed to take part in a wider sting operation.
However the 68-year-old was subsequently found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death by a firing squad in January 2013.
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Over 11 years on from her sentencing and Sandiford is still behind bars Kerobokan Prison, which is widely considered to be one of the world's toughest prisons. Built to house around 300 inmates Kerobokan is currently estimated to have between 1,300 and 1,400 inmates, with MailOnline reporting in 2023 that 80 percent of these inmates had been incarcerated for drug offences.
However there are now hopes that she could finally be released after an upcoming law change in Southeast Asian country.
From January 2025, Indonesia is planning to implement a change to their death penalty laws, which would see a death sentence converted into a life prison term if a prisoner had completed 10 years of good behaviour behind bars.
According to a report published in The Mirror back in March this year, Sandiford's death could be converted under this change.
Should her death sentence be converted into a life term, Sandiford's lawyers could then argue for her to be transferred back to the UK - which could then see her released due to the time served in Indonesia.
"There is hope that she can go home," an inmate of the 68-year-old's revealed.
"If she can get through to 2025 then she thinks she may be able to avoid the death penalty."
Felicity Gerry KC, who previously visited Sandiford back in 2015, has also called for her release, saying: "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."
She added: 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."
Topics: Crime, World News, Drugs, Death Row
Brenna Cooper