JAKARTA: An elderly British woman has been sentenced to death by an Indonesian court after being convicted of drug charges on the island of Bali, court officials confirmed to Bikyanews.com. The case has sparked concerns that the legal system is being too harsh on those unlikely to commit another crime. “This is crazy and I am very disturbed about the ruling,” one activist told Bikyanews.com. The 56-year-old woman was convicted of smuggling cocaine onto the resort island of Bali and received the mandatory death sentence. “We found Lindsay Sandiford convincingly and legally guilty for importing narcotics… and sentenced the defendant to death,” judge Amser Simanjuntak told Denpasar district court. She had been arrested at Bali's international airport in May with a reported 4.79 kilograms (10.6 pounds) of cocaine stashed in her suitcase. Police have said she then helped mount a sting to net three Britons and an Indian on drugs charges. The death sentence was a shock to many, including the prosecution, which had only recommended a 15-year jail term for the charges. However, another judge on the panel, Bagus Komang Wijaya Adi, said Tuesday “there are no mitigating circumstances” to allow for leniency in the case. “All evidence was incriminating against the defendant,” he said. Human rights organizations have called for the country to end its death penalty for drug-related crimes, and a top Indonesian police official said last summer that the death penalty was not a deterrent in ending drug smuggling in either Indonesia or Malaysia. Bikyanews.com
