A 69-year-old British woman sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking has been repatriated to the United Kingdom after both governments reached a humanitarian agreement, Indonesian officials confirmed on Friday.
Lindsay Sandiford, who was convicted in 2013 for smuggling 4.8 kilograms (10.6 pounds) of cocaine into Bali, left Indonesia shortly after midnight on a flight to London alongside another British prisoner, Shahab Shahabadi, who had been serving a life sentence for drug offences.
The rare bilateral arrangement marks one of the few times Indonesia, which enforces some of the world’s toughest drug laws, has approved the transfer of foreign prisoners sentenced for narcotics crimes.
“The repatriation of Ms. Sandiford and Mr. Shahabadi was conducted on humanitarian grounds,” said I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, a senior Indonesian government official. “The flight departed Bali around 12:30 a.m. local time.”
Last month, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s Minister for Law and Human Rights, announced that both countries had agreed to return Sandiford due to her advanced age and deteriorating health. She will serve the remainder of her sentence in the UK, he said.
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Britain’s Deputy Ambassador to Indonesia, Matthew Downing, told reporters at a press conference in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison that Sandiford’s case would now fall under UK legal procedures.
“She will be governed by the law and procedures of the United Kingdom,” Downing said, declining to comment on what legal process might follow. He added that the arrangement was reciprocal, allowing Indonesia to request the return of Indonesian nationals serving sentences in Britain, though none had yet been made.
Sandiford, who appeared at the briefing in a wheelchair with her face covered, did not speak publicly.
Sandiford was arrested in May 2012 after arriving in Bali from Bangkok, when customs officers discovered cocaine valued at more than $2 million concealed in the lining of her suitcase. She was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad in January 2013, a ruling that drew widespread attention in the UK and appeals from human rights advocates for clemency.
Indonesia, which resumed executions for drug offences in 2015 after a brief moratorium, has since faced international criticism over its strict anti-narcotics policies. However, in recent years, the government has shown more flexibility toward humanitarian repatriations.
In the past year, Indonesian authorities have released several foreign inmates previously on death row, including five Australians, a French citizen, and a Filipino woman.
The British government has not commented on whether Sandiford will face further legal proceedings upon her arrival but she is expected to undergo medical evaluation before any decisions regarding her incarceration are made.