Lindsay Sandiford to go to court over UK government refusal to fund her Bali death sentence appeal

Lawyers for British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford will go to the Court of Appeal in London over a UK government refusal to fund her appeal against a death sentence for drug smuggling imposed by an Indonesian court.

The case will go before the UK appeal court on Monday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it would not pay for "an adequate lawyer" to represent Sandiford, 56, from Cheltenham.

She was sentenced to death by firing squad by a court in Bali for taking STG1.6 million ($A2.39 million) of cocaine on to the island.

Earlier this month Sandiford lost the first appeal to the Bali High Court but is expected to take her case to Indonesia's Supreme Court.

At the end of January, UK High Court judges upheld the government refusal to fund her, despite pleas that she was urgently in need of money and her family had exhausted all their available resources.

Mrs Justice Gloster, sitting with Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, said the court understood "the deep concerns of Mrs Sandiford and her family about Mrs Sandiford's predicament" but her case must be dismissed.

Sandiford received the death sentence, despite prosecutors asking only for a 15-year jail term, after being accused of damaging the image of Bali.

The British government said it was disappointed when she lost her bid to block the sentence.

The FCO reiterated the UK's opposition to the death penalty and said it had repeatedly made representations to the Indonesian government about the case.

Balinese police said Sandiford was at the centre of a drugs-importing ring involving three other Britons, but she said she was forced to transport the drugs to protect her children whose safety was at stake.

In the UK High Court, her QC Aidan O'Neill said the refusal to offer her funding breached her "fundamental rights".

Martin Chamberlain, appearing for the FCO, argued it was neither unfair nor irrational for the Foreign Secretary to refuse.

He said said it would be difficult to set up a funding scheme for citizens in trouble overseas and limit it to death sentence cases.

There would be pressure to extend such a scheme to other human rights cases where sentences offended "human dignity", such as cases where British nationals might be sentenced to 30 lashes because they are gay in some countries, or a woman might be sentenced for driving a car.

The Foreign Secretary was entitled to conclude such a move would not be "wise or sensible", he said.

Reprieve investigator Zoe Bedford said: "Lindsay long ago ran out of money for paying her legal fees.

"She now potentially faces the firing squad simply because she has no money to hire a lawyer for her appeal.

"Never has there been a clearer example of how the death penalty falls predominantly on those who do not have the funds to defend themselves.

"The FCO should step in to ensure she gets the legal support to which she is entitled - given it would cost them a fraction of what they spend on wine each year, it is hard to see why they are fighting against this in the courts."

Source: AAP, April 21, 2013

Death row grandmother running out of time as UK Government refuses to fund lawyer

Lindsay Sandiford, a British grandmother facing execution in Bali, has told how she is "desperate" after running out of money to pay a lawyer for her appeal in just over two weeks.

Ms Sandiford was sentenced to death on drug charges by a Bali court on 22 January this year. Earlier this month, she lost her appeal to the high court, meaning that the Indonesian Supreme Court is now the final court standing between her and the firing squad.

She exhausted her finances paying for legal representation before her last appeal, and has since been relying on public donations to a fundraising website - and the auction of a jumper she is knitting - as the UK Foreign Office (FCO) has refused to step in to help. Ms Sandiford needs around £8000 - money she does not have - in order to fund her Supreme Court appeal.

In an open letter published by human rights charity Reprieve today, she says:

"I have been told the government’s position when it comes to British citizens in my position, facing execution in a foreign country: that I or my supporters must raise the funds for my defence, and that the longer I am on death row the more time I have in which to do this," adding that, "I am unspeakably grateful...to the man who does not know me, but has set up a JustGiving.com site for me and raised over £2,500 towards the costs of my appeal. And I have been touched and humbled by the kindness of so many members of the British public, who have reached into their own pockets in difficult times to help me pay for a lawyer, when the government wouldn’t help me."

Tomorrow (Monday 22 April) Ms Sandiford's lawyers will go to the English Court of Appeal to appeal against the FCO's decision not to help fund her lawyer.

The text of Ms Sandiford's letter is as follows:

"I am sitting in my death row cell here in Bali. Yes, I feel depressed. Yes, I know I have been stupid. Yes, I want to say sorry for what I have done – sorry to the British people for the shame I have caused and – more than anything – sorry to the people of Indonesia. And yes, I am totally humiliated.

"But I don’t want to beg. I’ll accept help, because I’m desperate and I don’t know where to turn. I am unspeakably grateful, for example, to the man who does not know me, but has set up a JustGiving.com site for me and raised over £2,500 towards the costs of my appeal. And I have been touched and humbled by the kindness of so many members of the British public, who have reached into their own pockets in difficult times to help me pay for a lawyer, when the government wouldn’t help me.

"So I don’t have the money to pay a local lawyer, again. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not very much money. The last appeal cost about £2,600. This time, in the Supreme Court, it will be about £8,000. If I really were a rich drug dealer, it would be no big deal. But I’m not, and you might as well ask me to pay ten million dollars.

"They say some of the current cabinet ministers are out of touch. I don’t know much about politics but I do know the minister who said that, Alistair Burt, lives in cloud cuckoo land. My family has done all they possibly can to support me and nobody could ask anyone to do more. I myself am knitting a jumper that I will try to auction to raise money, but that’s not going to go far. Exactly how, Mr Burt, do you propose that I come up with £8,000? Perhaps you would like to bid £6,000 for my jumper. I think the colour might suit you.

"I suppose Mr Burt may think it’s my fault that I am where I am. I suppose that’s true, in the same way that it’s true that many people on trial in Britain have only themselves to blame when they get into trouble; but, at least for now, we have a pretty decent legal aid system for them. I suppose even someone who smokes cigarettes (and I’ve done that myself) may have only herself to blame when she gets cancer, but at least we have the NHS.

"The Indonesian system gives legal aid to its own citizens, but not to foreigners. So I cannot get a lawyer, unless I pay for one. In a way, I respect the Indonesians more than my own government at this point: they go out of their way for their own citizens, providing legal help to the many Indonesians who face execution in Saudi Arabia or Malaysia. So they do what the British government is unwilling to do.

"There are others who are even more desperate than me, other British people who face execution without anyone on their side, some who have been unfairly convicted for crimes they never committed. I know that there are some people who think I should die here in this prison cell. If I should die – and I hope I don’t, but I fear I may – then I hope that my execution will prompt the British government to do more for others."

Source: Reprieve, April 21, 2013

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