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JAKARTA - Indonesia's Constitutional Court has thrown out a challenge against the death penalty in drug cases, in a fresh blow for six Australians on death row for heroin smuggling.
Three of six death-row members of the Bali Nine heroin ring had joined several Indonesian death-row inmates in challenging the constitutional validity of the death penalty in drug cases.
But the court yesterday ruled the penalty was valid.
"It's not against the constitution, [and it's] not violating international obligations," a panel of nine judges said.
The death penalty was not unconstitutional because the part of the constitution that enshrined life as a basic human right could be limited by law, the judges ruled. "Human rights [enshrined] in the constitution are not absolute."
It is a blow for Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and drug mule Scott Rush, who had hoped a favourable ruling would help their final appeals against their death sentences.
The judges had earlier ruled the Australians did not have the right to challenge Indonesian law because they were foreigners.
- AAP
