23/04/2013

Lindsay Sandiford Appeals Death Sentence

Lindsay Sandiford, a British woman on death row in Bali for her role in a drug smuggling ring, has lodged an appeal against her sentence.

The 56-year-old grandmother was sentenced to death by firing squad by a court in Bali in January after she was found to have brought £1.6m of cocaine to the island the previous year.

On Monday, Ms Sandiford lost an appeal over the UK Government's refusal to find her legal challenge against her sentence. The Court of Appeal in London heard how she needs around £8k to fight her death sentence, but only £2k has been raised so far. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) refused to fund her case as a matter of Government policy.

The organisation reiterated the UK's opposition to the death penalty and said it had repeatedly made representations to the Indonesian government about the case.

On Tuesday her lawyer, Fadillah Agus, lodged a last-ditch appeal to the country's top court. Sandiford's deadline to raise the money to take her case to Indonesia's Supreme Court in Jakarta expires at 5pm GMT on Tuesday.

Her execution by firing squad has been scheduled for May 7, but if she makes the deadline and the Supreme Court also rejects her appeal, she can then seek a judicial review of the decision from the same court. After that, only the president can grant her a reprieve.

Sandiford received the death sentence earlier this year, despite prosecutors asking only for a 15-year jail term.

(JP/CD)

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