INDONESIAN COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG OFFENCES

the Constitutional Court of Indonesia upheld the death penalty for serious drug offences for three Australians facing execution for trying to smuggle heroin off the resort island of Bali. Lawyers for the three men had hoped a successful constitutional challenge would add weight to their final appeal to the Supreme Court, which had previously escalated their sentence from life imprisonment to death. Should that appeal fail, their last available avenue would be a direct plea to Indonesia's president. The Constitutional Court ruled 6 to 3 that a 2000 constitutional amendment upholding the right to life did not apply to capital punishment. The court added that the right to life had to be balanced against the rights of victims of drug trafficking. Three other Australians on death row here had hoped that a constitutional ruling might lead to a review of their case. Three other Australians are serving between 20 years and life for their involvement in the smuggling ring. The so-called Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 for trying to smuggle 8.2 kilograms, or 18 pounds, of heroin into Australia from Bali.