Two Britons convicted of drugs offences in Indonesia, including a 69-year-old woman on death row, were repatriated early this morning, as part of a deal to return them to the UK on humanitarian grounds.
Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws, but has moved to release more than half a dozen high-profile detainees in the last year.
Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death on the tourist island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs.
She was repatriated along with Shahab Shahabadi, 36, who was serving a life sentence for drug offences after his arrest in 2014.
Both left Bali on a Qatar Airways flight to London via Doha, an official from Indonesia's law and human rights ministry confirmed.
They had been presented before the media in a handover ceremony at Kerobokan jail a day earlier, with Sandiford covering her face.
Their "detention will be moved to the United Kingdom" under the bilateral deal, the official, told reporters.
"For Lindsay and Shahab, after we hand (them) over to the United Kingdom government, (they) are fully responsible for the legal decision that will be given there but still respecting our legal decision."
Sandiford was arrested in May 2012 after arriving in Bali on a flight from Bangkok.
Authorities found 3.8 kilograms of cocaine worth €2.5 million hidden in the lining of her suitcase. During her trial, she said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that threatened her children.
In January 2013 she was sentenced to death by firing squad and Indonesia's highest court upheld it seven months later. She has been imprisoned in Kerobokan prison on Bali island.
The severity of the sentence met with shock because prosecutors had not recommended the death penalty for her. The ruling was condemned by the British government and anti-death sentence activists.
Shahabadi has been serving a life sentence since 2014. He was arrested in Jakarta as part of an investigation into an international drug trafficking network.
Prosecutors said he sent 30kg of methamphetamine powder in several shipments from Iran to his partner for distribution in Jakarta, before finally arriving in Jakarta himself.
Shahabadi has been imprisoned on Nusa Kambangan prison island, known as the Alcatraz of Indonesia, since 2014 and was moved yesterday to Bali ahead of his repatriation.
The repatriation comes after Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, signed a deal with British foreign minister Yvette Cooper last month for the transfer of Sandiford and Shahabadi.
Both are suffering from severe health problems.
Mr Yusril said last month that Sandiford was "seriously ill", while Shahabadi was "suffering from various serious illnesses, including mental health issues".
Matthew Downing, Britain's deputy ambassador to Indonesia, said the two were being repatriated on "humanitarian grounds".
"When they first arrive in the UK, the priority will be about their health," he said.
"So they'll be going through a health assessment, and any treatment and rehabilitation that they need."
The two will be "governed by the law and procedures of the UK" government upon their return, Mr Downing said.
Sandiford's case caught media attention in Britain, with one newspaper publishing in 2015 an article in which she detailed her fear of death.
"My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell," she wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
"I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family."
As of August, nearly 600 inmates were on death row in Indonesia, according to the rights group KontraS, citing official data.
Among them are around 90 foreigners, according to the Immigration and Correction Ministry.
Indonesia last carried out executions in 2016, killing one of its own citizens and three Nigerian drug convicts by firing squad.
President Prabowo Subianto's administration has repatriated several high-profile inmates since he took office in 2024, including the last five members of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug ring.
In December, Filipina inmate Mary Jane Veloso tearfully reunited with her family after nearly 15 years on death row.
And French national Serge Atlaoui, 61, was returned home in February after 18 years on death row.
Additional reporting PA
