Lindsay June Sandiford, the 68-year-old British woman who has spent the past 13 years awaiting execution at Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, is now destined to be returned to the UK to live the remainder of her life..
Sandiford was arrested on 19 May 2012 at Bali’s Airport after landing on a flight from Bangkok with 4.8 kilograms of cocaine concealed in the lining of her suitcase. She was subsequently charged as a drug trafficker and sentenced to death.
Sandiford’s reprieve from death before an Indonesian firing squad was announced by the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Facilities, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, The British grandmother and convicted drug trafficker will be whisked out of her cell at Kerobokan Prison accompanied by prison, justice, and immigration officials and placed on plane bound for London as soon as Thursday, 23 October 2025.
The aging convict is said to be in declining health, is suffering from hypertension, and Type II diabetes.
Also granted a prison reprieve was another UK National, Shahab Shahabadi, age 35, who has been held in prison since 2014, most recently housed at Indonesia’s notorious Kembangkuning Prison on Nusakambangan Island in Central Java, where he was serving a life prison term. Shahabadi is reportedly suffering from a chronic skin condition and has been diagnosed as mentally disturbed.
Shahabadi was arrested in 2014 at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, caught while trying to smuggle 9.696 grams of methamphetamines into Indonesia.
The entire cost of repatriating the two convicts will be borne by their respective countries.
The commutation of the sentences for the two is being done under directives issued by Indonesian President Subianto Prabowo.
Reynhard Sinaga – most prolific rapist in British legal history,
The commutation of sentences is claimed to be undertaken on a reciprocal basis between Indonesia and the UK. Any Indonesian prisoner currently in a UK prison who could be repatriated has not been formally named. There is speculation in some quarters that discussions are ongoing for the return of Reynhard Tambos Maruli Tua Sinaga (Reynhard Sinaga), a 42-year-old man convicted of committing 159 sex offenses, including the rape of 136 young men, between 2015 and 2017. Described as the “most prolific rapist in British legal history.” Sinaga is serving consecutive life sentences with a minimum of 40 years, dating from 2020.
At the time of his crimes, Sinaga was a graduate student from Indonesia living in the U.K..
Related Links
Lindsay Sandiford on Wikipedia
Bali 5 Face Legal Hurdles to OZ Homecoming
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