Bali Sentences Brit Granny to Death Over Cocaine

She says gang forced her to smuggle the drug
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 22, 2013 4:48 AM CST
British Grandmother Gets Bali Death Sentence
Lindsay June Sandiford of Britain, right, listens to her interpreter during her sentencing at a courthouse in Bali today.   (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

An Indonesian court sentenced a British grandmother to death today for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali—even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence. Lindsay Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handed down the sentence and declined to speak to reporters on her way back to prison, covering her face with a floral scarf. She had claimed in court that she was forced to take the drugs into the country by a gang that was threatening to hurt her children. Click for more on her May 2012 bust. (More Bali stories.)

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