Lindsay Sandiford: Death row Briton hails executed Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Briton Lindsay Sandiford, currently facing the death penalty, paid tribute to two Australians executed for drug smuggling, as she awaits the same fate in Indonesia.

Sandiford, 58, spoke out following the deaths of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan by firing squad, after the government rejected clemency pleas on behalf of the two men who headed the "Bali Nine" gang.

Sandiford, from north Yorkshire, has been sentenced to die for her role in a separate plot and grew close to Chan during the time they spent incarcerated together in Kerobokan Prison, Bali.

She said both Australians were reformed men who organised painting classes for fellow inmates. Their executions were "brutal" and "senseless", she added.

"I am deeply saddened to learn that Myuran Sukumaran and my dear friend Andrew Chan have been executed," Sandiford said.

"Many things have been said about whether Andrew and Myuran deserved to die for their crimes. The Andrew and Myuran I knew were men who did good and touched the lives of a great many people, including myself."

She added: "He counselled and helped me through exceptionally difficult times after I was sentenced to death in 2013.

"Myu and Andrew used their time in Kerobokan to make life better for everyone around them. They introduced the concept of rehabilitation to a prison that never had it before.

"They organised painting classes, cookery classes and computer classes, and gave practical help to make sure the poorest prisoners had food, clothing and essentials."

Sandiford's fate appears sealed after she exhausted all legal channels to challenge her sentence for smuggling 4.8kg of cocaine from Thailand to Indonesia. She claimed gangsters threatened her family to make her carry the illegal haul.