JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian court sentenced a 56-year-old British woman to death Tuesday for smuggling $2.5 million worth of cocaine onto the island of Bali, a decision that went far beyond the prosecutors’ recommendation of 15 years in prison.

In May, according to investigators, customs officials at Bali’s airport discovered 8.4 pounds of cocaine hidden in the lining of the travel bag carried by the woman, Lindsay June Sandiford. A grandmother, she said she was forced to take the drugs into the country by a gang that had threatened to hurt one of her children.