A member of a team responsible for carrying out executions has shared the shocking details of what would have happened to British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford if she had not been freed.
Indonesia is infamous for its harsh penalties for crimes like drug trafficking, often resulting in death sentences, with a grim execution method. A police officer has described the distressing firing squad process and its specifics.
Lindsay Sandiford, a 69-year-old British grandmother, faced the threat of execution when she was sentenced to death in 2013 for smuggling £1.6 million worth of cocaine into Indonesia after arriving from Thailand a year earlier. She spent 13 years imprisoned in Kerobokan Prison in Bali, awaiting her fate.
However, this year, it was confirmed that she would be repatriated to the UK and spared the firing squad. Recently, Sandiford returned to the UK on a flight departing Bali, closing a distressing chapter for the former legal secretary.
Punishments for offenses like drug trafficking in Indonesia are severe, often resulting in death sentences, with a chilling execution process. Convicted individuals are taken to a wooded area where they can choose to sit or stand, decide on a blindfold or hood, and have their hands bound.
Before the execution, they may request religious counsel and are dressed in white with a mark above the heart as a target for the armed soldiers.
The firing squad consists of 12 officers, some of whom have live ammunition in their rifles, keeping the shooter anonymous. The officers are selected based on their shooting skills, mental readiness, and physical fitness.
Standing five to 10 meters away, the firing squad receives the order to shoot and carries out the execution. A police officer from the firing squad on the prison island of Nusa Kambangan disclosed the chilling details of his duty.
This officer, part of the Mobile Brigade unit of the Indonesian police corps, known as “Brimob,” is involved in executions on top of regular responsibilities, earning a nominal additional fee for this grim task.
For him, the most difficult part is securing the person to the pole, the final contact with another human before death. He quietly apologizes, stating, “Sorry, I’m just doing my job,” offering no further words.
“We witness the person from being alive and speaking until they pass away,” the firing squad officer told the Guardian. “We shoot and wait for the dying process to finish. Once the gun fires, we wait for around 10 minutes. If the doctor confirms death, we leave.”
“It’s over in less than five minutes,” he remarked. “They become lifeless immediately, as there is no more life.” If a prisoner survives the initial firing, another officer will deliver a fatal shot to the head at a closer range.
The officer views his role as following legal orders, bound by his soldier’s oath, stating that the prisoner violated the law, and they, as officers, are executing orders.
Executions in Indonesia are reported to occur sporadically, leaving most inmates on death row for over a decade.
