B

ritish grandmother Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, has received national and international support in her quest for justice from the Supreme Court after the Bali High Court firmly rejected her appeal against the death sentence on April 2.

The Indonesian human rights watchdog Imparsial, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), and the Community Legal Aid Agency (LBH Masyarakat) have filed an amicus curiae (a brief filed by someone who is not a party to a case) with the Denpasar District Court to support Sandiford'€™s cassation appeal.

An amicus curiae supporting Sandiford was also filed by Lord Macdonald, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions in England between 2003-2008. The amicus curiaes were filed on Tuesday, along with the cassation appeal documents for the Supreme Court.

'€œImparsial, Kontras and LBH Masyarakat contend that there were too many violations of the law and human rights in the legal process of Lindsay June Sandiford'€™s case. In our opinion, the Supreme Court should play a more crucial role to fix the errors made by judges in lower courts,'€ Ricky Gunawan, the director of LBH Masyarakat, told The Jakarta Post.

Sandiford, who is now an inmate in Kerobokan prison, was sentenced to death at the Denpasar court for cocaine smuggling in January this year, while the Bali High Court rejected her appeal against the death sentence in April.

Meanwhile, in his amicus curiae, Lord Macdonald criticized the Bali High Court'€™s decision. The high court noted that the harsh sentence was necessary to deter others from carrying out drug offences. '€œSentencing the mule to death will do nothing to deter the kingpins controlling the drugs syndicate,'€ was written in Lord Macdonald'€™s statement.

Sandiford'€™s lawyer, Fadillah Agus, said that he was optimistic that Sandiford could find justice from the Supreme Court.