Indonesia executions 'in days'

Andrew Chan and nine other convicted drug criminals are likely to be executed in Indonesia within days. Photo / Getty Images

The executions in Indonesia of 10 convicted drug criminals including two Australians are likely within days, with the date expected to be set as early as today.

With all 10 now on the prison island of Nusakambangan and foreign embassy officials summoned to a meeting today in nearby Cicilap, the signs are "worrying" and "ominous", according to a lawyer for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

"We're on alert, for sure," Peter Morrissey told Australia's Nine Network yesterday. Indonesia is required by law to give 72 hours' notice of executions to prisoners, their families and, where applicable, their foreign governments.

Indonesia has repeatedly said it wants all 10 - including nationals of France, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana and the Philippines - to face the same firing squad. Authorities have been waiting for each of them to exhaust all avenues of appeal.

The final legal challenge by Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, who were ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" heroin smuggling plot, was rejected nearly three weeks ago. The pair had sought judicial review of President Joko Widodo's refusal to show clemency.

Just one appeal remains to be concluded: that of the one Indonesian in the group, Zainal Abidin, whose lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to hear a judicial review application. The court is expected to hear it imminently.

Judicial review applications by Frenchman Serge Ataloui and Ghanaian Martin Anderson were rejected this week.

The only woman facing the firing squad, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, was transferred to Nusakambangan early yesterday.

Indonesia previously said that would not happen until shortly before the executions, as the island is not set up for female prisoners.

On Thursday, Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo sent letters to prosecutors in the 10 cases, instructing them to travel to Cilacap to start preparing for the executions.

And the last political obstacle has been removed, with the departure of foreign leaders attending the Asian African Conference in Jakarta.

Families of Chan and Sukumaran were reportedly travelling to Indonesia yesterday.