Jakarta court dismisses death row Australians' legal challenge
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JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian court on Tuesday dismissed a bid by two Australian drug traffickers on death row to avoid execution by challenging the president's rejection of their pleas for clemency.
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling gang, were arrested for trying to traffic heroin out of Indonesia in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year.
Their appeals for presidential clemency, typically a death row convict's final chance of avoiding the firing squad, were rejected by new Indonesian President Joko Widodo in recent months.
On Tuesday, the Administrative Court in Jakarta dismissed the men's application to challenge Widodo's refusal to grant them clemency, a rare move that was seen as having little chance of success.
Rejecting Sukumaran's application, presiding Judge Hendro Puspito said: "Clemency is the prerogative of the president... the state administrative court has no right to rule on the challenge."
He also rejected Chan's application. The judge said that the pair had 14 days to lodge an appeal, and their lawyers said they would.
The pair's legal team had earlier applied for a second judicial review of their cases, but judges also rejected that application.
Later, Widodo, who has been a vocal supporter of the death penalty for drug traffickers, insisted that Jakarta would push ahead with the executions of the Australians and other foreigners on death row.
He said that the Brazilian and French presidents, whose citizens on death row have also lost appeals for presidential clemency, had recently made calls to him.
