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A British grandmother facing the death penalty in Bali for smuggling a large haul of cocaine was repatriated to the UK from Indonesia on Friday, officials said.
Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sent back along with fellow British national Shahab Shahabadi, who was serving a life sentence for drug offences.
The plane taking them from Bali to London left at around 12.30am on Friday, I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, Indonesia’s acting deputy for immigration and corrections coordination, said.
Indonesia has some of the world’s strictest drug laws, with severe penalties, including the death sentence, for serious drug offences like trafficking. But it has released several high-profile convicts since last year.
Sandiford wassentenced to death in 2013 and was held in the notorious Kerobokan prison for more than a decade.
The Briton was arrested at Bali’s Denpasar airport in 2012 after customs officials found 4.8kg of cocaine, worth an estimated £1.6m, in the lining of her suitcase when she arrived from Bangkok, Thailand.
She claimed that a British gang had forced her to smuggle the drugs, threatening to kill one of her two sons if she refused to cooperate.
But Indonesian police alleged that the grandmother of two was part of an international network that trafficked drugs from countries like Peru, Colombia and Thailand.
Sandiford and Shahabadi were released on “humanitarian grounds” after the UK government reached a deal with Indonesia.
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“When they first arrive in the UK, the priority will be about their health,” Matthew Downing, Britain’s deputy ambassador to Indonesia, said.
“So they’ll be going through a health assessment, and any treatment and rehabilitation that they need.”
Ahead of their return, a Foreign Office spokesperson had told The Independent that they were “in close contact with the Indonesian authorities” over discussions about the pair’s repatriation.
Sandiford and Shahabadi, who was detained in 2014, left jail on Thursday afternoon and took a 45-minute car journey to the Denpasar airport where they were handed over to the British ambassador Dominic Jermey.
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Before leaving, Sandiford attended a press conference in a wheelchair at the Kerobokan prison but did not speak. She covered her face with her hands.
Mr Downing said Sandiford would be “governed by the law and procedures of the UK”, but said he would not speculate about any legal processes she might face.
He said it was a reciprocal agreement with Indonesia, which meant the Southeast Asian nation could seek the return of its citizens held in Britain, though no request had been made so far.
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Pastor Christine Buckingham visited Sandiford in prison last week and told the Mirror that she was “in extremely ill health”.
“She’s very keen to get back and be with her family after these 13 years,” the pastor said. “She wants to get home and enjoy some creature comforts.”
Asked what Sandiford intended to do after returning to the UK, Ms Buckingham said: “She’s very unwell. The most important thing is that she gets home, we need her to be checked medically and then the plan is that she says she will spend as much time as she can with her family.”
