A BRITISH drug smuggler, Lindsay Sandiford, has been condemned to death by firing squad in Bali for smuggling in 4.8 kilograms of cocaine last year.

The sentence, handed down late on Tuesday, shocked Sandiford, 56, her lawyers and onlookers, because prosecutors had asked for a 15-year jail sentence, and because her four co-accused were let off with much lighter penalties.

Sandiford said nothing when the verdict was handed down but was seen later huddled in the rear of her court cell.

She will now join the Bali Nine smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan on death row in Kerobokan jail. The Australians are in the midst of last-chance clemency applications.