Indonesia will sign an agreement on Tuesday to repatriate two British nationals convicted of drug-related crimes, including Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother sentenced to death, according to a senior Indonesian government source.

“The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side is agreed,” the official told AFP, naming Sandiford and Shahab Shahabadi, 35, as the individuals to be returned to the UK.

Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 after she was caught smuggling cocaine worth over $2.1 million into Bali from Thailand. The drugs were discovered concealed in a false bottom of her suitcase. Shahabadi, arrested in 2014, is currently serving a life sentence for separate drug offences.

Although the Indonesian source listed Sandiford’s age as 68, public records indicate she is 69.

A joint press conference with Indonesian officials and the British ambassador to Indonesia was scheduled for later Tuesday, according to the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs.

Tabloid Attention and Personal Testimony

Sandiford’s case received widespread attention in the UK after she admitted to the offences but claimed she was coerced by a drug syndicate that threatened to kill her son. In a 2015 article published in The Mail on Sunday, Sandiford wrote from prison about her fear of imminent execution:

“My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell. I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.”

Originally from Redcar, in northeast England, she also wrote that she planned to sing the Perry Como hit “Magic Moments” before facing the firing squad.

During her time in prison, Sandiford reportedly became close friends with Andrew Chan, one of the “Bali Nine” Australian drug smugglers who was executed in 2015.

Policy Shift on Repatriation

The planned transfer follows recent moves by the Prabowo Subianto administration to repatriate foreign nationals serving harsh sentences for drug crimes. In December 2024, Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on death row, was allowed to return home. In February 2025, Serge Atlaoui, a French national, was repatriated after 18 years on death row.

Indonesia, known for having some of the world’s strictest drug laws, last carried out executions in 2016, when three Nigerian citizens and an Indonesian were executed by firing squad. As of early November 2025, more than 90 foreign nationals remain on death row in the country, all for drug-related offences.

The British Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment, directing inquiries to the Indonesian government.

Indonesian authorities have recently signalled the potential resumption of executions, after nearly a decade-long de facto moratorium.

(AFP): Huge crowds took to the streets in all 50 US states at “No Kings” protests over the weekend, venting anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies, while Republicans ridiculed them as “Hate America” rallies.

Organisers said seven million people marched in protests spanning New York to Los Angeles, with demonstrations popping up in small cities across the US heartland and even near Trump’s home in Florida.

“This is what democracy looks like!” chanted thousands in Washington near the US Capitol, where the federal government was shut down for a third week because of a legislative deadlock.

Colourful signs called on people to “protect democracy,” while others demanded the country abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency at the centre of Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.

Demonstrators slammed what they called the Republican billionaire’s strong-arm tactics, including attacks on the media, political opponents and undocumented immigrants.

“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman told AFP as she marched down Broadway in New York.

•A tiara worn by the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III was stolen

Thieves wielding power tools raided the Louvre in broad daylight Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France’s priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as they fled, officials and sources said.

Authorities recovered the 19th-century crown — damaged — near the museum.

The spectacular heist, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure of the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa.

Police are looking for a team of four thieves, Paris’s chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau, told the BFMTV channel.

Soldiers patrolled the famed glass pyramid entrance, while evacuated visitors, tourists and passersby were kept at a distance behind police tape.

It was “like a Hollywood movie”, one American tourist, Talia Ocampo, told AFP.

It was “crazy” and “something we won’t forget — we could not go to the Louvre because there was a robbery”, she said.

A culture ministry statement said eight items of jewellery had been stolen from the Gallerie Apollon which houses the French crown jewels.

“Two high-security display cases were targeted, and eight objects of invaluable cultural heritage were stolen,” said the ministry statement.

They included the emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, and the diadem of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

Beccuau said the thieves threatened museum guards with the angle grinders they used to break into the jewellery cases. She said a team of 60 investigators were assigned to the crime.

– ‘Unsellable’ –

The robbers used a powered, extendable ladder of the sort used to hoist furniture into buildings to get into a gilded gallery housing the crown jewels, sources and officials said.

The 19th-century crown of Empress Eugenie, was found broken near the museum afterwards, a source following the robbery said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The crown, featuring golden eagles, is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s website.