Lindsay Sandiford

I assume that if you break the law abroad then you suffer the consequences?
The Foreign Office aren't there to give free legal advice etc, if they were they'd be bankrupt pretty quickly.
She knew exactly what she was doing and, as sad as it is, she has been tried and found guilty.

I don't know the full story, but I would imagine that she knew that she was taking a huge risk and what the penalties are for drug smuggling in Indonesia.

From Wiki, it's not as if she hasn't had support from UK authorities:

"Sandiford subsequently launched an appeal against the court's decision. She had funded her own defence costs during the initial trial but had no money for representation at appeal. Funds were subsequently raised to pay for an appeal lawyer, and the appeals procedure began. In the United Kingdom lawyers applied to seek a judicial review of the government's stance of not providing financial aid for Britons facing criminal proceedings overseas, but their legal challenge was dismissed by judges at the High Court of England and Wales on the grounds that Sandiford had little chance in successfully appealing the sentence. An appeal arguing the government's position was unlawful was also rejected. The British government submitted a statement to the Court in Bali alleging unlawful behaviour towards Sandiford by officials at the time of her arrest".

Not nice to think that someone is going to be put to death though.

Hideous thought but she must have been aware of the risks.
Maybe will make some potential drug smugglers think twice, they never seem to consider the misery drugs cause.

I think the telling sentence in the para in my post above from Wiki is that the judges here thought any appeal had very little change of success. So there would be no point in bending the rules in this case.

I'm not questioning her guilt, or otherwise, or the back story about her co-conspirators, etc. I have little sympathy for drug smugglers.

However, it's not everyday that a UK citizen faces execution and such punishment is banned in most civilized countries.

And it's not a case of bending the rules - it's government policy not UK law.

So she is appealing to the UK government to change their policy so that she can hire lawyers and get legal representation. I don't understand how that will help her if they did "bend the (policy) rules" given the circumstances and developments so far.

I'm sure everything possible is being done behind the scenes to try and avoid her being put to death.

I'm as guilty as the next person, but it's funny how we are sympathetic or understanding of some reckless people who get into serious trouble, but not to others.

The first of the two Japanese hostages who were beheaded was a 'private military contractor' i.e. a mercenary trying to make money by selling arms in a war zone, and the world was outraged.

I just don't think we can "go there" on all the bad happening stories in the world. Sometimes we just have to look the other way. For the sake of our own sanity.

It would be different if there was any chance that we could do something about it.

Whilst I do have misgivings about the sentence, I don't think the UK government should be asked to finance her appeal. If they make an exception in her case where will it stop? She was aware of the consequences but went ahead anyway.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime as they say.

They could at least assist in making a plea to commute the sentence instead of her being executed.

I am sure they have been working very hard behind the scenes to get her sentence commuted.
It does not seem fair considering there are other people involved who have not received the death penalty as far as I am aware.

Several other nationalities, including Australians, have received the death penalty.

However, how many people have died or have a life-long dependency on drugs as a result of her and their actions?