CNN) -- A court in Indonesia on Monday rejected the
appeal of a 56-year-old British grandmother sentenced to death for drug trafficking on the island of
Bali.
A spokesman for the Denpasar High Court told CNN
that it upheld the sentence handed down by the Denpasar District Court in
January but gave no reasons for the decision.
Prosecutors in Bali had asked for a 15-year sentence
for Lindsay June Sandiford (above), who was arrested last May carrying what officials
said was cocaine worth an estimated $2.6 million.
Sandiford, from northeast England, was found to have
blocks of cocaine weighing 4.7 kilograms (10.4 pounds) in her suitcase when she
arrived on the island, the court heard during her original trial.
"The UK strongly opposes the death penalty and
has repeatedly made representations to the Indonesian government on this
matter. We will continue to provide consular assistance to her at this
difficult time."
The UK-based group Reprieve, which works to secure
the human rights of prisoners around the world, said neither Sandiford nor her
lawyer had yet been formally informed of the outcome of the appeal.
The next step would be to file an appeal with the
Supreme Court, Reprieve investigator Zoe Bedford said.
But, she said, "Lindsay's lawyer has exhausted
all the funds which were kindly donated by the public and Lindsay's friends and
family to cover his expenses for the appeal to the High Court. If her appeal
has been unsuccessful, Lindsay will now need to somehow raise the funds for
legal representations for an appeal to the Supreme Court."
According to the original trial judges, the
defendant showed no regret for what she did, Indonesian state news agency
Antara reported.
"We were surprised by the decision, because we
never expected the death penalty," Ezra Karo Karo, a lawyer acting for
Sandiford, told Antara in January.
She is clearly not a drug kingpin -- she has no
money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel costs of defense witnesses or even
for essentials like food and water.
He said the judge did not consider mitigating
circumstances in his client's case, such as that she acted under the threat of
violence to her family, the news agency reported.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
has strict laws against drug trafficking.
The head of Bali's Customs and Excise Agency
monitoring division, Made Wijaya, warned at the time of her arrest that
Sandiford could face execution if convicted.
"The main reason is because narcotics can
massively endanger the young and, thus, whoever is caught with drugs should be
severely punished. If three people can consume one gram of cocaine, then this
operation has potentially saved up to 14,000 lives," he said.
Reprieve has previously said Sandiford was a
vulnerable person who should not have been sentenced so harshly.
"Lindsay has always maintained that she only
agreed to carry the package to Bali after receiving threats against the lives
of her family," said Harriet McCulloch of Reprieve in January.
"She is clearly not a drug kingpin -- she has
no money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel costs of defense witnesses or even
for essentials like food and water."
The High Court spokesman said the appeal decision
was made on April 2 but still needs to be ratified by the lower court.
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