Editorial: Not such a tourist idyll after all
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Quite apart from the principle of capital punishment, which we utterly reject, the death sentence passed by an Indonesian court on a British cocaine-smuggler in Bali looks excessive on at least two counts. First, it seems out of all proportion to the 20-year prison term received by the bomb-maker for the 2002 Bali nightclub atrocity in which more than 200 people died, and second, it is of quite a different order from the 15-year term requested by the prosecution. An appeal is to be launched, but we hope there is some way that the Indonesian judiciary can commute the sentence sooner.
Especially bizarre, though, was the way the judges defended the sentence, arguing that Lindsay Sandiford had weakened the government's fight against drugs and damaged Bali's image as a tourist destination. How, we wonder, might the island's image as a tourist idyll be compromised if this execution went ahead?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments