A British grandmother who may be executed soon over drug trafficking offences in Indonesia has said she would refuse to be blindfolded when she faces the firing squad. Lindsay Sandiford is set to follow eight other offenders, including three Nigerians, in paying the ultimate price over their roles in drug smuggling in the Far East country.
She told The Mail on Sunday that she’s ready to die like those men who sang Amazing Grace while looking at their executioners in the eye.
Sandiford said her choice of song would be Magic Moment by Perry Como.
“I won’t wear a blindfold,” she said. “It’s not because I’m brave but because I don’t want to hide – I want them to look at me when they shoot me.”
Sandiford, originally from Redcar, Teesside, was sentenced to death in January 2013 in Bali, after being convicted for trafficking in drugs.
She was found with cocaine worth an estimated £1.6 million as she arrived in Bali on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2012. She admitted the offence, but claimed she had been coerced by a drug syndicate making threats to her son’s life, and has since appealed against her sentence without success.
Meanwhile, people worldwide have continued to express disgust at Indonesia’s decision to execute foreign nationals over drug trafficking offences.
One writer observed: “Drug trafficking involves no prima facie harm or violence to another person. One of the possible consequences of the trafficking of drugs is self-abuse of the drug, possibly resulting in death. However, that is an event which is considerably removed from the actual trafficking of the drugs and ultimately involves an act of self-choice by the drug user. There’s no element of self-choice when someone is murdered, or even when you get killed by a reckless driver. In no way does drug trafficking merit the death penalty.”
•Photo shows Mrs. Sandiford.
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