Indonesian court rejects appeals of Australians facing execution

An Indonesian court rejected on Monday the appeals of two Australians facing executions for smuggling drugs.

Judges at the State Administration General Court (PTUN) rejected the appeals of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, two Australians who ran drug ring known as Bali Nine, saying that the case was not an object under jurisdiction of the court.

Lawyer of the two convicts, Leonard Aritonang, said that they would file in another appeal to the Constitution Court (MK) in a bid to be freed from the execution.

"This is not the end. We will file in judicial review in the near future," Leonard told reporters in the court.

Indonesia has put on hold the second batch of execution against 10 convicts that comprised of persons from several nationalities.

The execution was initially scheduled for February.

The delay was due to legal processes of some of the convicts which were still progressing at the moment.

The second batch execution was strongly challenged by Australia and Brazil whose nationals were among those to be killed by Indonesian firing squad.

Besides convicts from Australia and Brazil, other nationals planned for the execution were from France, Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil and the Philippines for drug cases.

Indonesia has executed six people comprised of several nationalities in drug cases in January.

The execution was part of President Joko Widodo's determent gesture to wage war against rampant drug abuse in the country. Endi