British grandmother prepares for execution in Indonesia

A British grandmother on death row in Indonesia is writing goodbye letters to her family and believes she could be executed at any time. Lindsay Sandiford, 58, said she was expecting to die shortly, after seven foreign drug convicts were executed last week, causing a storm of international protest. "My execution is imminent and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell,“ Sandiford wrote in British newspaper the Mail on Sunday.

I won’t wear a blindfold. 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.

Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin

Sandiford, originally from Redcar in northeast England, wrote that she planned to sing the cheery popular song "Magic Moments” when facing the firing squad. She said she’s started to write her goodbye letters to her family and admits her greatest sadness is that she may never meet her two-year-old granddaughter, who was born after her arrest. Sandiford was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Sandiford’s family have recently launched a fundraising drive to raise money to lodge an appeal at the Indonesian Supreme Court, after the British government refused to fund the legal fight. If the challenge fails, Sandiford still has the option to appeal for clemency from Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Asia-Pacific