A Cheltenham grandmother who spent more than a decade on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drug smuggling is to return home to the UK within weeks.
Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was sentenced to death in 2013 after nearly five kilos of cocaine worth around £1.6 million were found in her luggage on arrival in Bali from Thailand in 2012.
Sandiford admitted the offence but said she had been forced to act after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.
An agreement between the Indonesian and British governments, announced on Tuesday, will allow Sandiford to return to the UK alongside fellow Briton Shahab Shahabadi, 35, who had been serving a life sentence for drug smuggling.
Indonesia’s minister for law and human rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said both prisoners were in poor health.
“We agreed to grant the transfers of the prisoners to the UK,” he said, adding that the move should be completed within two weeks once final arrangements are made.
A Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed that officials were in close contact with Indonesian authorities regarding the pair’s return.
Sandiford had faced the threat of execution by firing squad during her sentence, imposed at a time when Indonesia was enforcing harsh penalties for drug trafficking.
The transfer comes despite the absence of a formal prisoner exchange treaty between the UK and Indonesia, and it is understood both will continue to serve their sentences in Britain once repatriated.