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| Lindsay Sandiford in her Kerobokan death row cell. |
Lindsay Sandiford’s barrister Craig Tuck writes:
As an international human rights lawyer, I have been deeply moved by Lindsay’s case. I am committed to doing everything in my power to challenge the flagrant injustice of her death penalty.
I am leading an international team of pro bono lawyers fighting on Lindsay’s behalf and seeking funding for competent Indonesian counsel to represent her in the Supreme Court of Indonesia.
I have followed Lindsay’s case with intense interest and visited her numerous times in Kerobokan prison in Bali. She is very brave despite her frightening circumstances and having to deal with complex legal issues on her own. All she wants is to have her appeal properly presented and argued before the Supreme Court of Indonesia.
What has happened to Lindsay is a terrifying example of how badly things can go wrong for foreigners, without means, caught up in overseas jurisdictions. From start to finish, if something could go wrong for Lindsay it did. Clear duties on the authorities in the UK and Indonesia to protect those forced to commit crime were not properly invoked and she was left to appear as a litigant in person in a foreign country without proper translation. Her situation has been made far worse by the neglect of the British authorities, who have not investigated the circumstances in which she was coerced from the UK, have refused to fund her fight against the death penalty and are holding vital information about a personal relationship that developed between the drugs syndicate leader and a female British Vice Consul in Bali.
Lindsay’s predicament today is of the direst urgency. The Indonesian government has made its intention to execute foreign drug convicts clear and has already carried out several executions this year with 11 more executions expected soon.
Our client has the chance to lodge a final appeal against her death sentence – called a Peninjauan Kembali hearing – but she needs funding for competent Indonesian legal counsel to do so.
Lindsay is simply asking for justice and seeking to have the complex legal issues properly put before the Supreme Court in Indonesia.
It would be a an indelible stain on the British and Indonesian legal systems if Lindsay is not able to have her case fully and fairly presented in her last chance at justice.
All money raised through this site will go towards funding a team of competent Indonesian and international lawyers to fight Lindsay’s case. For further information please contact Craig Tuck at
craig@tucklaw.co.nz
