British grandmother flies home after 12 years on Indonesian death row

A British grandmother who spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking flew home on Friday, as part of a deal between the UK and Indonesian governments.

Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013, after she was found with nearly 5kg of cocaine worth £1.6m ($2.1m) when she arrived on a flight from Thailand in 2012.

Indonesia has some of the world's most stringent drug laws, but it has freed several high-profile detainees, including the infamous "Bali Nine" drug ring, in the past year.

Sandiford was repatriated along with another British national Shahab Shahabadi, who had been serving a life sentence for drug smuggling.

Their flight left Bali at about 00:30 local time (16:30 GMT Thursday), Indonesian officials said.

Sandiford and Shahabadi were both said to be suffering from health problems while in prison. Last month, Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said Sandiford was "seriously ill" while Shahabadi had "various serious illnesses, including mental health issues", AFP news agency reported.

Sandiford attended a press conference in the Bali prison in a wheelchair hours before she was due to fly home.

She had admitted to the offences in 2013, but said she only agreed to carry the cocaine after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.

The UK's Deputy Ambassador to Indonesia Matthew Downing said Sandiford and Shahabadi were being repatriated on "humanitarian grounds".

They will be given necessary treatment while being "governed by the law and procedures of the UK" upon their return, he added.

In December 2024, Indonesia repatriated the five remaining members of the "Bali Nine" drug ring, after they served nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons. The two ringleaders were executed by firing squad in 2015.

Also in December, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was repatriated to the Philippines. The mother of two, who was nearly executed, had always maintained she was tricked into carrying the drugs found on her.