Indonesia and UK sign deal to repatriate two Britons

A British woman who has spent more than a decade on death row in Indonesia for drug offences will be returned to the United Kingdom after Jakarta and London signed an agreement on Tuesday to repatriate her and another British prisoner, Indonesian officials said. Lindsay Sandiford, who was convicted in 2013 in Bali and sentenced to death, and Shahab Shahabadi, who has been serving a life term, will be transferred after the countries complete technical and administrative steps, the Indonesian government said.

Indonesian authorities said Sandiford was arrested at Bali’s airport in 2012 after officers found cocaine hidden in a false bottom of her suitcase. Officials described the seizure as several kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of about $2.5 million. Sandiford admitted carrying the drugs at trial but told the court she agreed to transport them after a syndicate threatened her son. Her death sentence was upheld by Indonesia’s highest court in 2013.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s senior minister on legal affairs, said the repatriation was agreed on humanitarian grounds. "Lindsay is old and sick. In prison she had good behaviour so that was enough reason to...