Indonesia will repatriate Lindsay Sandiford, a 68-year-old British grandmother who has spent over a decade on death row for drug trafficking, according to an Indonesian government source who spoke to AFP. The decision comes as part of a broader initiative by President Prabowo Subianto’s administration to return several high-profile foreign inmates to their home countries.
A practical agreement for the transfer of Sandiford and another British national, 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi, is expected to be signed on Tuesday. “The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the arrangement is agreed,” the source said.
Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 after Indonesian customs officers discovered cocaine worth approximately $2.14 million hidden in her suitcase upon arrival from Thailand in 2012. She admitted to the offence but claimed she had been coerced into carrying the drugs after a syndicate threatened to kill her son.
Her case drew significant attention in the UK, where media outlets published emotional letters and interviews from her time in Bali’s Kerobokan prison. In one piece for the Mail on Sunday in 2015, Sandiford wrote about preparing for execution, saying she planned to sing Perry Como’s “Magic Moments” as she faced the firing squad.
The repatriation marks Indonesia’s latest move to send death row inmates back to their countries of origin. In recent months, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso and French national Serge Atlaoui were both returned home after lengthy stays on death row.
While Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, officials have hinted that capital punishment could soon resume. As of early November, more than 90 foreign nationals—mostly convicted of drug offences—remain on death row across Indonesia’s prisons.
Sandiford’s return to Britain will likely reignite debate over the treatment of foreign inmates and the future of capital punishment in Southeast Asia.
