Lindsay Sandiford's Sister Fears She May Not Be Saved From Execution In Bali

Kerobokan Prison

The sister of Lindsay Sandiford, the British grandmother sentenced to death by firing squad in Bali last week, fears that she cannot be saved from execution because of her inability to fund a lawyer.

Hilary Parsons has spent the last pennies of her savings to try and find Sandiford a lawyer to challenge her death sentence for drug smuggling, but cannot afford even the expenses of an Indonesian lawyer who she says has agreed to act for free.

Parsons spoke of her "terror" at the realisation that she alone must try and navigate the Indonesian appeals process, with no funds to pay legal representatives. "I can't imagine what we will do if we miss the opportunity to save Lindsay's life," she said in an interview published by Reprieve, the legal rights charity supporting Sandiford.

"Because Lindsay is unrepresented it is has fallen to me to try to work out what is going on and when documents need to be filed - this is a terrifying position to be in.

"I don't speak Indonesian and have no way to find out how the Indonesian criminal justice system works.

"When I arrived in Bali in early October I managed to find an Indonesian Lawyer, Esra Karokaro who would represent Lindsay at trial for $5000. Other lawyers we approached had asked for upwards of $30,000.

"Although Esra appeared to be an honest lawyer who would do his best for Lindsay, he did not speak much English and had never handled a case carrying the death penalty.

"Esra has done his best throughout the case but it is clear that Lindsay desperately needs the help of an experienced capital defence lawyer. A lawyer has offered to act for free but I have spent all of my savings and do not have the money to pay his costs."

Sandiford, 56, from Teeside, was arrested on 1.7m pounds drugs charges in Bali. Prosecution lawyers asked for her to serve a 15-year sentence, but a panel of judges, headed by Amser Simanjuntak, concluded that Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government's programme of drug annihilation.

Source: Huffington Post, January 30, 2013

Lindsay Sandiford arrives at a courthouse in Denpasar, Bali

Reprieve recently announced that it had filed an application for a judicial review through solicitors Leigh Day & Co, charging the UK Foreign Office overs its alleged failure to support Sandiford's appeal.

Sandiford has just 2 weeks to file the appeal. She has already filed an intention to appeal with the district court.

Parsons said: "A lawyer has offered to represent Lindsay pro bono if the British Government are able to cover his costs. He is our only choice.

"If we were properly funded we could hire the very best lawyer. I know nothing about this lawyer and can only hope and pray that he is the right person for the very difficult job.

"I am so scared that we will lose the chance to appeal. A lawyer should have started work on the case a week ago and every day that goes by is a day that Lindsay loses for preparing her appeal.

"We have nowhere else to turn. We desperately need the help of the British Foreign Office to ensure that Lindsay has a lawyer."

Separately, the Jakarta Post, Indonesia's largest English-language newspaper, has published an editorial in the wake of the Sandiford case, calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia.

It said: "This new death sentence should serve as the impetus for the complete abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia.

"More than 2/3 of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. The year 2013 should be the time for Indonesia to follow suit.

One of the reasons given by the paper for abolition is the fact that the US still retains capital punishment. "We should also abolish the death penalty so that we are no longer compared to other death penalty retainers, like the US, whose criminal justice systems are notoriously problematic and rife with errors," the paper said.

Source: Huffington Post, January 30, 2013

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Alabama Set To Carry Out Execution This Week

Alabama is preparing to execute Jeremy Williams, who pled guilty to the 2021 rape and murder of five-year-old Kamarie Holland. The execution is scheduled for Thursday (August 13) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. Williams, who is 41, requested the death penalty and waived his right to appeal, making this the first execution in Alabama this year.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Iran’s War on Women: Executions, Floggings, and the Politics of Fear

The Iranian regime is increasingly using death sentences, corporal punishment, and judicial persecution against women—not only to silence dissent but also to intimidate a society demanding change. The Iranian regime has long viewed women as central to the country’s struggle for freedom—and therefore as central targets of repression. The nationwide uprising of 2022 fundamentally altered the political landscape, demonstrating that Iranian women were no longer merely participants in protest movements but among their principal organizers and symbols. Since then, the authorities have steadily intensified their campaign against women, expanding the use of executions, imprisonment, corporal punishment, and judicial intimidation.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty a second time for 2 inmates

County Attorney Brad Miller said Aug. 6 that the nature of the attack and both men's past criminal records meet the strict legal bar required for execution under Arizona law. FLORENCE, Ariz. - Pinal County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two inmates accused of violently killing a fellow prisoner behind bars, officials announced Thursday. Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller filed a Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton in connection with the fatal attack on Kenneth Thompson.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues three death penalty reprieves

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued execution reprieves for three death row inmates on Friday. In a statement, DeWine said he issued reprieves for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn, all of whom were set to be executed early next year. LaMar was scheduled to be executed on Jan. 13, 2027. He was convicted of aggravated murder for the deaths of five inmates during a 1993 riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He received the death penalty for four of the killings. His new execution date is Jan. 13, 2030. Watch the latest NBC4 headlines in the video player above.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog