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strong>Jan. 22, Online/AP

The Denpasar Court sentenced a British woman to death on Tuesday for smuggling cocaine worth US$2.5 million into the resort island of Bali — even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence.

Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, was found guilty by the court of violating the country’s strict drug laws.

In its verdict, a judge panel headed by Amser Simanjuntak concluded that Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government’s drug prevention program.

State prosecutors had been seeking a 15-year prison sentence for Sandiford, who was arrested in May when customs officers at Bali’s airport discovered 3.8 kilograms (8.4 pounds) of cocaine in her luggage.

She had earlier told the court that she was forced into taking the drugs into the country by a gang that was threatening to hurt one of her children.

There are more than 114 prisoners on death row in Indonesia, at least 40 of them foreigners, most of them convicted of drug crimes, according to a March 2012 report by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy.

Your comments:

Whatever we do to the carriers, including shooting them, it will make no difference to the drug trade in Indonesia. Mrs. Sandiford is, in fact, another victim of the drug trade.

It is easy to nab carriers at the airport and pretend we are being tough on drugs. In fact, the drug mafia is laughing as they count their money. What a tragic situation this is. There is an endless supply of tragic characters ready to replace Mrs. Sandiford.

If we are serious about stopping drugs coming to Indonesia, we have to wage an all-out war against the kingpins and the heart of the drug mafia.

We should be prepared for serious action. They are well-armed, well-organized and well-connected.

It will be a war every bit as serious as the war on terrorism.

Deedee S

Ironically, they are giving the death sentence based on damaging the image of Bali and weakening the drug prevention program.

This just makes the Denpasar District Court appear to be brute, harsh, merciless and backwards.

Smuggling drugs and/or using them is a terrible offense, but it’s not worth death and that’s the overall worldwide consensus. When foreigners visit Bali to spend money, they imagine a warm, peaceful and compassionate place.

They don’t think of the harsh Indonesian government. When this reality is put in front of their face, they have second thoughts about booking that trip.

Not a good business plan when trying to promote tourism.

Figum

If you killed an Ahmadi, you only get months in jail, but with drugs you get the death penalty.

Faisal

Sandiford cooperated with the police, and as a result three more drug dealers were arrested, and the judges still didn’t see any reason to lighten her sentence.

I’m sure that any drug couriers caught in the future in Indonesia will bear this case in mind when they have to decide whether to cooperate with the police or not.

Chances are that they will tell the Indonesian police where to stick their deal if they’re going to get executed anyway.

Scott Wootton

Before people (especially foreigners) start becoming exceedingly emotional and rant and rave at the Indonesian judges who handed Lindsay Sandiford the death sentence, we would do well to look carefully at the background of this case — and to do this, we require more facts.

Sandiford, an adult and a grandmother, must have known, from the news about previous harsh sentences passed down to drug couriers, that bringing drugs into Indonesia can either mean a lengthy prison term, life imprisonment, or even the death sentence.

She brought 4.7 kilograms of cocaine into this country: that in itself is quite a sizable amount. And she must have known and understood the frightful risks she was taking.

Is it true that Sandiford is actually a major drug dealer who supplies drugs to customers in Indonesia,
including Bali?

If that is true, then she made her bed. Now, she must lie in it.

Tami