JAKARTA: An Indonesian court on Monday dismissed an appeal by two Australian drug smugglers facing imminent execution, and the country’s legal chief said the pair have now exhausted all legal attempts to avoid the firing squad.

Following the ruling lawyers for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran vowed to take the case to the Constitutional Court — but Indonesia’s attorney-general accused the legal team of “playing with justice” and said the move would not delay the executions.

In its ruling on Monday the State Administrative Court in Jakarta upheld a decision that it does not have the authority to hear a challenge to President Joko Widodo’s rejection of the Australians’ pleas for clemency.

Chan and Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, were sentenced to death in 2006 for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

Widodo recently rejected their mercy pleas, typically the final chance to avoid execution. They are expected to be executed soon along with other drug convicts, including foreigners from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana.

Published in Dawn April 7th, 2015

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