Death-Row Briton In Bali Lodges Appeal With Top Court

[webfact]

Death-row Briton in Bali lodges appeal with top court

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AFP) — A British grandmother on death row for trafficking drugs into Bali lodged an appeal with Indonesia's top court, a day after losing a bid to get London to fund her legal fight.

Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in January after cocaine with a street value of $2.4 million was found in her suitcase as she arrived on the resort island, a shock verdict after prosecutors recommended 15 years in jail.

The 56-year-old lost a first appeal against the sentence at Bali High Court earlier this month and her lawyer, Fadillah Agus, on Tuesday lodged a last-ditch appeal to the country's top court.

"I lodged an official notification to appeal to the Supreme Court through the district court in (Bali's capital) Denpasar," he told AFP.

It came after three Court of Appeal judges in London on Monday upheld a previous court ruling that the British government was not obliged to pay for an "adequate lawyer" for Sandiford.

The court heard that she needs about £8,000 ($12,200) to continue her fight against her death sentence, and only £2,000 had so far been raised. The Foreign Office has refused to pay as a matter of policy.

But Agus pledged to continue defending Sandiford and said he hoped her family and friends could raise enough funds to cover the legal fees.

"This situation will not change my position to defend Lindsay, because I don't defend her only for the money," he said.

He also lashed out at the British government: "I can't comprehend it, because even Indonesia tries to defend its citizens when they are facing serious problems overseas".

The lawyer said a document would be submitted within 14 days outlining the grounds for her appeal, after which the Supreme Court would likely make a decision at a closed hearing in two to four months.

If she loses the appeal, she can seek a judicial review of the decision from the same court. After that, only the president can grant her a reprieve.

In a statement issued by legal charity Reprieve ahead of Monday's ruling, Sandiford, who claims she was forced to transport the drugs as her children's safety was at stake, said she was "desperate".

"If I should die -- and I hope I don't, but I fear I may -- then I hope that my execution will prompt the British government to do more for others," she said. Executions in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-04-23

[TheShockMaster]

As harsh as the sentence may be, she's an adult and should have known better. The foreign office could easily offer the £6,000 needed for the appeal but I understand why they won't. Legal fee's in Bali go straight in the back pocket of officials, you're not buying someones time , expertise and legal knowledge.

The British government spent their budget on a ridiculous military funeral for Thatcher, costing millions, chuck a hard up grandma £6,000 so she can at least say they fought the case before they take her out back and put her out of her misery.

[Lammbock]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

[Steely Dan]

It's a pity for her she wasn't involved in funding or coordinating terrorist activities; had she been I suspect a top notch lawyer would have been appointed for her by the crown.

[RickBradford]

It's a no-win situation all round. The Indonesian authorities get to look heavy-handed, the grandmother gets one through the hat, and the British government will get a hard time whether it helps or whether it doesn't.

There are surely some big drug operators in (or rather, behind) this case who are well clear of the flak, and couldn't give a rat's a*se who shoots who.

[TheShockMaster]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

[JeremyBowskill]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

I would and I'm the younger brother of a heroin addict who has died and been resuscitated 5 times! People choose to take drugs (at least at the start of usage) in the same way you and I choose to have a beer. The picture of the poor innocent user or the dope dealer hanging around outside schools just isn't true in 90+% of cases.

[Baerboxer]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

I would and I'm the younger brother of a heroin addict who has died and been resuscitated 5 times! People choose to take drugs (at least at the start of usage) in the same way you and I choose to have a beer. The picture of the poor innocent user or the dope dealer hanging around outside schools just isn't true in 90+% of cases.

All of us have choices. I'm sorry to read about your brother, but as you say that's his choice.

Similarly this lady chose to carry illegal drugs for financial gain, knowing the risks. She was caught and her lack of remorse influenced the judges to impose a harsher sentence than the prosecution asked for.

Nothing to do with the British Government. They do not have any responsibility to fund her legal costs. They have already made diplomatic approaches which is correct. There is no suggestion she was unfairly tried, and she can and is pursuing the appropriate appeals process.

Being for or against the death penalty is also a choice people have to make. So is deciding to risk carrying illegal drugs into a country where the death penalty is a possible sentence. She is hardly "an innoncent" either. All drug pushers choose to be criminals too.

[Dr Wanchai]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

I would and I'm the younger brother of a heroin addict who has died and been resuscitated 5 times! People choose to take drugs (at least at the start of usage) in the same way you and I choose to have a beer. The picture of the poor innocent user or the dope dealer hanging around outside schools just isn't true in 90+% of cases.

Get on with it Indonesian government.

Execute the drug trafficker !

[Locationthailand]

2.4Million in drugs and this XXXXX expect leniency? If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes, you too would throw the switch as would I, in a heartbeat.

Edited April 23, 2013 by metisdead
Vulgar profanity removed.

[Ulysses G.]

If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes

A lot of that could probably be avoided by legalizing it.

[outre99]

2.4Million in drugs and this XXXXX expect leniency? If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes, you too would throw the switch as would I, in a heartbeat.

If the social and personal damage were the main factors determining the punishment alcohol and tobacco manufacturers and retailers should have been taken to the back and shot long time ago. But they are not. The punitive approach to drugs has been discredited by all serious studies and by negative results that the multi-decade multi-trillion dollar war on drugs had produced. Most people can consume alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or food for that matter in a proportionate, healthy, and responsible way. They should be able to ingest whatever they want as long as they are not harming others. Some people have phsycological problems with addictive behavior towards any of the above substances. They need medical and community help, not prison. The public policy should be focused on the majority and stay out of personal lives. The minority should be offered help and support programs. Decriminalization is the onle sane public policy approach not only because it will stop destroying lives and filling up prisons with non-violent users, but because it will move durgs from the black market where they fuel more violance into the legal market where they can be regulated and taxed just like alcohol and tobacco.

[JeremyBowskill]

2.4Million in drugs and this XXXXX expect leniency? If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes, you too would throw the switch as would I, in a heartbeat.

Seen it first hand and deffo would not want to see the death penalty for dealers, addicts make their own choices. There is a point when using where an addict knows that if they carry on their life will go down the pan, but yet they carry on where as most casual users get a grip and knock it on the head. If you are an addict you have chosen to be an addict at some point for whatever reasons best known to themselves.

that being said this old bird should have known better and the law is the law, so stop bitching and take yer medicine!

[LeeThayer]

She is in Indonesia, their laws. She is an adult and knew what she was doing, why does the UK need to pay the legal fee?

[Phronesis]

Hmmmm....she was a mule for 2.4 million in blow...but can't come up with 6K GBP?

[comserve]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Why not? Drug smugglers are peddling death, so they should expect the same if they are caught. An eye for an eye!!!

[MRJOHNNY]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

Yes at the end of the day she knew what she was doing and she knew the consequences, so tough luck, if the government started helping every overseas drug smuggler then we'd all be up for taking the risk, drugs are vile at the best of times and anybody involved in the business deserves everything they get, and as for drug addicts dont even go there with the sympathy, we all possess a thing called will power, and its not an illness its self inflicted so lets stop our bleeding hearts, stop spending tax payers money on supplying methadone clinics and start looking after the people who deserve some help(pensioners, disabled etc.)

[orpheus454]

2.4Million in drugs and this XXXXX expect leniency? If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes, you too would throw the switch as would I, in a heartbeat.

If the social and personal damage were the main factors determining the punishment alcohol and tobacco manufacturers and retailers should have been taken to the back and shot long time ago. But they are not. The punitive approach to drugs has been discredited by all serious studies and by negative results that the multi-decade multi-trillion dollar war on drugs had produced. Most people can consume alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or food for that matter in a proportionate, healthy, and responsible way. They should be able to ingest whatever they want as long as they are not harming others. Some people have phsycological problems with addictive behavior towards any of the above substances. They need medical and community help, not prison. The public policy should be focused on the majority and stay out of personal lives. The minority should be offered help and support programs. Decriminalization is the onle sane public policy approach not only because it will stop destroying lives and filling up prisons with non-violent users, but because it will move durgs from the black market where they fuel more violance into the legal market where they can be regulated and taxed just like alcohol and tobacco.

A rare voice of reason on this matter.

Thank you.

[chuckd]

You people bleating about legalizing drugs might like to see what happens when a bunch of druggies get together and party. This was in San Francisco and they pretty well ignore most laws anyway so let's just call it legal, for the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golden Gate Park pot party a major mess

Victoria Colliver

Updated 11:20 pm, Sunday, April 21, 2013

San Francisco park workers and volunteers spent much of Sunday picking up and hauling away 10,000 pounds of garbage strewn all over the eastern part of Golden Gate Park known as Hippie Hill, the remnants of Saturday's annual yet unofficial pot-smoking bacchanalia.

But this year's annual celebration - which falls each year on April 20 and is known as "420" - drew a larger-than-average crowd of between 10,000 and 15,000 revelers on the warm weekend day. They proceeded to smoke, drink, eat and rack up more than $10,000 in costs for city crews to clean up the mess, ironically just before Earth Day.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Golden-Gate-Park-pot-party-a-major-mess-4451852.php#ixzz2RIcj9Hmh

[annabel]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Ok apparently I have gone over my LIKE QUOTA today on TV which is ridiculous as I only started looking at TV posts around 6.30 pm today and didn't do any LIKES till about 9.00 PM ... so like .. WTH???... So now I have to post this LIKE!!! Oye!!

[annabel]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Ok apparently I have gone over my LIKE QUOTA today on TV which is ridiculous as I only started looking at TV posts around 6.30 pm today and didn't do any LIKES till about 9.00 PM ... so like .. WTH???... So now I have to post this LIKE!!! Oye!!

Really surprised it went through and didn't get a message back saying you have reached your Post Limits for Today

[annabel]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

oh please!! and how would you possibly know that it was THE DRUGS SHE TRAFFICKED THAT CAUSED THAT 1 Death //// Oye!! ..However it would be more logical to ask = WHY did that person , friend or not of mine / yours, chose to do these drugs and become addicted .. we all have choices to make in life ... we make our own beds ... you can offer me anything you want... from beer to wine to cigarettes and to any other drug for that matter... the choice is MINE AND ONLY MINE!! And so the repercusions and results are MINE and nobody elses ... so we should also put a death penalty on all these cigarette companies who are being sued left right & center for people dying of lung cancer because, they out of their own choice, started smoking and became addicted ...?? Or the Alcohol Companies ( Wine & Hard Spirits ) because people become alcoholics and die of liver cancer due to this ??? Again THEIR CHOICE...!! I don't think so !! Oh I forgot McDonalds for people becoming OBESE again out of their choice ... but no ... let's blame others ... Yes, yes, yes I know ... If the temptation wasn't there they wouldn't do it is what the response will be ... Again here all I can say is OYE!!!... there will always be temptations for bad destructive health things ... at the end it's as they say in TLOS ... Up to You !!

[Frank James]

Seems we have a lot of real tough guys in the room today.

[Khun Watchaporn]

"Sandiford was in a race against time to raise the money to take her case
to Indonesia's Supreme Court in Jakarta as the deadline expires at
midnight Tuesday local time (5pm GMT)."

"Her execution by firing squad had been scheduled for May 7, if she did not appeal."

http://news.sky.com/story/1081657/lindsay-sandiford-gran-on-death-row-appeals

Well, they can't be accused of hanging about!

[chuckd]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

oh please!! and how would you possibly know that it was THE DRUGS SHE TRAFFICKED THAT CAUSED THAT 1 Death //// Oye!! ..However it would be more logical to ask = WHY did that person , friend or not of mine / yours, chose to do these drugs and become addicted .. we all have choices to make in life ... we make our own beds ... you can offer me anything you want... from beer to wine to cigarettes and to any other drug for that matter... the choice is MINE AND ONLY MINE!! And so the repercusions and results are MINE and nobody elses ... so we should also put a death penalty on all these cigarette companies who are being sued left right & center for people dying of lung cancer because, they out of their own choice, started smoking and became addicted ...?? Or the Alcohol Companies ( Wine & Hard Spirits ) because people become alcoholics and die of liver cancer due to this ??? Again THEIR CHOICE...!! I don't think so !! Oh I forgot McDonalds for people becoming OBESE again out of their choice ... but no ... let's blame others ... Yes, yes, yes I know ... If the temptation wasn't there they wouldn't do it is what the response will be ... Again here all I can say is OYE!!!... there will always be temptations for bad destructive health things ... at the end it's as they say in TLOS ... Up to You !!

All these personal choices flying about but you forgot to mention the obvious one. HERS...for carrying the drugs in the first place.

[evadgib]

Gender shouldn't come into it, yet when Samantha Orobator received a similar sentance in Laos a few years ago the Govt bent over backwards & quickly secured commutation & her return to UK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/20/samantha-orobator-laos-drugs-conviction

When the purportrator is male it's a very different story.

Edited April 23, 2013 by evadgib

[Khun Watchaporn]

Of course she'll be pardoned should her appeals fail.

Indonesia is not going to shoot an old British grandmother to death. That's all there is to it. I'm sure she'll end up doing 15-25 years, but the president is not going to allow them to execute her in front of the global media.

[theblether]

Sentence people to death for trafficking drugs is the worst what law can do. Nobody deserves that. Doesn't matter what particular drug they were trafficking.

Death is never a solution.

My opinion.

Would you be saying the same thing had the drugs she carried killed a person you knew?

I would and I'm the younger brother of a heroin addict who has died and been resuscitated 5 times! People choose to take drugs (at least at the start of usage) in the same way you and I choose to have a beer. The picture of the poor innocent user or the dope dealer hanging around outside schools just isn't true in 90+% of cases.

That's too simplistic an answer. In many cases it's beer that's the introduction to drugs, the house party where the charismatic guy hands out some E's to the young and impressionable, and so begins the magic roundabout.

I see children living with drug addicts every day in life in Scotland, and I can see how all pervasive this problem is. I don't share the detestation of junkies that many people have, as in too many cases, they are poor souls who had no chance in the first place.

However if you are convinced it's as simplistic a choice as beer v heroin, then up to you.

[rotary]

She knew what the law was and she broke it. Let her get what she deserves.

[Dr Wanchai]

2.4Million in drugs and this XXXXX expect leniency? If you see the results of drugs and the destruction it causes, you too would throw the switch as would I, in a heartbeat.

If the social and personal damage were the main factors determining the punishment alcohol and tobacco manufacturers and retailers should have been taken to the back and shot long time ago. But they are not. The punitive approach to drugs has been discredited by all serious studies and by negative results that the multi-decade multi-trillion dollar war on drugs had produced. Most people can consume alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or food for that matter in a proportionate, healthy, and responsible way. They should be able to ingest whatever they want as long as they are not harming others. Some people have phsycological problems with addictive behavior towards any of the above substances. They need medical and community help, not prison. The public policy should be focused on the majority and stay out of personal lives. The minority should be offered help and support programs. Decriminalization is the onle sane public policy approach not only because it will stop destroying lives and filling up prisons with non-violent users, but because it will move durgs from the black market where they fuel more violance into the legal market where they can be regulated and taxed just like alcohol and tobacco.

A rare voice of reason on this matter.

Thank you.

A "voice of reason" ?

I don't think so !

It sounds more to me like a voice of the clueless !!