Lindsay Sandiford is getting ready to return to her home country after spending over ten years on death row.
The 69-year-old was handed a death sentence in 2013 for smuggling five kilos of cocaine in her luggage during a flight from Thailand to Bali.
The drugs were said to be worth more than $2 million on the street. Sandiford claimed she was coerced into carrying the drugs by a gang that threatened her family.
Originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the UK, Sandiford moved to India in 2012 following her divorce. That same year, she reportedly encountered two members of a drug syndicate in Bangkok.
She was subsequently charged with drug trafficking and has been on death row since then.
The British grandmother has made several unsuccessful attempts to overturn her sentence — until now.
A repatriation deal between Bali and the UK has been finalized, allowing Sandiford to be brought back to England.
According to Metro Online, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, an Indonesian minister for legal affairs, has inked a repatriation agreement with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
The transfer is expected to take approximately ‘two weeks’.
Mahendra commented on the 69-year-old’s situation: “Lindsay is old and sick. In prison, she demonstrated good behavior, which was sufficient reason to accept the United Kingdom government’s request for her return home to complete her sentence there.”
Rev. Christie Buckingham, a pastor from Bayside Church in Melbourne, Australia, has been an advocate for Sandiford’s release for a long time.
She is currently in Indonesia and has been in contact with Sandiford.
“We are deeply grateful for the courageous compassion shown by President Prabowo Subianto and the Indonesian government in their commitment to repatriate Lindsay Sandiford on humanitarian ground,” the pastor told the Metro regarding the Brit’s upcoming release.
Buckingham also mentioned that Sandiford is ‘eager to be back home with her family’.
“She will forever be grateful for this second chance,” Buckingham added.
Prior to the agreement for her release, Sandiford expressed her final wish: that her family would not visit her before her execution.
“When it happens I don’t want my family to come. I don’t want any fuss at all. The one thing certain about life is no one gets out alive,” the mother of two told the Mirror.
“My attitude is ‘If you want to shoot me, shoot me. Get on with it’,” she added.
Thankfully, this is no longer the situation, and Sandiford will soon be back with her family.