A 56-year-old British grandmother has been sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
Lindsay Sandiford was arrested at Bali’s airport in May last year after 4.8kg (10.6lb) of cocaine was found in the lining of her suitcase during a routine customs check.
Sandiford, whose last UK address was in Gloucestershire, said she was coerced into bringing the drugs to the island.
Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire has condemned the sentence*.
He told MPs the government strongly objected to the death penalty imposed.
Her lawyers have said they were “surprised” at the verdict and would appeal. Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year sentence of imprisonment.
There was a rash of these kinds of stories several years ago, although it was mainly Thailand and silly young backpackers who had apparently come down in yesterday’s rain. And there was that couple that got “done” for shagging on the beach in Dubai…
Do they think “ah, Bali/Thailand/Dubai… tinpot countries run by idiot non-whites… I’ll never get caught but even if I do I’ll be able to get out of it”? Or do they think that every other country is as appalling at punishing blatant law-breakers as Britain? Either way, grow up! Funnily enough I have done quite a bit of travelling and nobody has ever tried to “coerce” me into becoming a drugs mule.
* and he can fuck off twice too, can you imagine the uproar if an Indonesian junior minister started criticising the UK’s legal system?
I don’t have any sympathy for her ! She did the crime and I cannot believe that she did not know the penalties.
If I was in that game I would do it in Holland. If caught,the jails are comfy,hookers are allowed and so is hash!!
Same in Sweden and an added extra there is if you get a short sentence, you can serve time at weekends and holidays if you have a job!!
Sorry, this is a blatant example of a foreign country that does not respect our values and which thinks they can over-rule our own carefully-thought-out opinion. They blithely assume that they can take the moral high ground in deciding what is an appropriate sentence, without any reference to the experience we have gained in this and similar matters derived from our long history. This is the very height of arrogance. Exactly who do this little bunch of foreigners think they are?
(Say the Indonesians…)
This reminds me of the English abroad, when they complain that foreigners don’t speak English,as if the should do.
They don’t serve proper food, either. I mean, if I’d wanted foreign muck, I’d ‘ave ‘ad me ‘oliday abroad, like, oh, err, wait…
Proper food !!! Jellied eels, potted hough, tripe, pig’s trotters, rabbit, hare, pigeon pie and haggis, to name but a few. But then the French eat l’escargot and Truffles, don’t they !!
Surely laws don’t apply when on yer ols?
Indeed, especially if you are the kind of holidaymaker “whose last UK address was in Gloucestershire”… I’m guessing she’s been on “holiday” for some time…
“Her lawyers have said they were ‘surprised’ at the verdict and would appeal. Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year sentence of imprisonment.”
The most important players in this game are not the defendants but the lawyers. ‘Surprise’ on the part of hers roughly translates as ‘Gosh. That means the premium fees of Appeal are more or less assured’.
Yep her lawyers will be able to buy more dogs an cats to eat as delicacies in Indonesia. I hope they are getting their fees up front, as to render her an invoice, may leave them ” hanging” for the money!! I have a felling that this story could run and run in here!! Pass the Enos, please