Indonesia to repatriate British grandma on death row, says govt source

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British Lindsay Sandiford reacts after she was sentenced to death for trafficking drugs worth US$2.14 million.

PHOTO: AFP

JAKARTA – Indonesia will sign an agreement on Oct 21 to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother, languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, according to an Indonesian government source.

“The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred.

Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of traffick ing drugs.

Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million (S$2.7 million) hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when she arrived in Bali on a flight from Thailand in 2012.

Shahabadi was arrested in 2014 on drug charges, according to information shared by the source.

The government source listed Sandiford as 68 years of age, while public information showed her to be 69 years old.

The British embassy in Jakarta directed all queries to the Indonesian government.

A news conference for the “release of two British nationals” was scheduled for later on Oct 21 by Indonesian authorities and the British ambassador to Indonesia, according to a release by the coordinating Ministry of Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correction.

Sandiford admitted the offences, but said she agreed to carry the narcotics after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, and dozens of