Appeal over jailed Bali gran's legal funds
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| Linsay June Sandiford is escorted by a armed customs personnel at a customs office in Denpasar on Bali island. Photo: AFP |
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."
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."
Courtesy: The Age World
