Post by carolinem on Oct 30, 2007 8:24:05 GMT -5
Tuesday October 30th
Six Australians on death row for heroin smuggling were dealt another crushing legal blow when a court ruled Indonesia was within its rights to order their executions.
Three of the six Australians sentenced to die for their roles in the Bali Nine drug ring had sought the protection of Indonesia's constitution, arguing it enshrined life as a basic human right.
But Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Tuesday upheld the country's death penalty and ruled the right to life afforded by the constitution was not absolute.
The Australians' crimes in trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in April 2005 were so serious that Indonesia was within its rights to sentence them to die, it said.
The court also ruled the trio - Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and drug mule Scott Rush - did not have the right to challenge Indonesian law because they were foreigners.
Only three of the six Australians on death row were involved in Tuesday's challenge, but the case was seen as vital to all of them. It would have added considerable weight to their only legal avenue left - a judicial review.
Defence lawyers intend to press ahead with reviews. If those appeals fail, the drug smugglers and the Australian government will make a last ditch plea to Indonesia's president for clemency.
Rush's lawyer John North said Tuesday's majority six-three ruling by a panel of nine judges was upsetting. The focus now would be on the judicial review, to be lodged in Indonesia's Supreme Court within weeks.
"It's disappointing but the court is obviously ... divided and the dissenting opinion is very strong," North said. Rush's legal team will use the fact that three judges disagreed with the ruling to strengthen their case.
Rush's father Lee Rush said the court's ruling was a devastating blow for his 21-year-old son.
"I would hope that an Australian government official could make representation to the Indonesian president to save our son and the other Australians' lives," he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the government would appeal to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if all legal appeals failed.
"We will plead for them," he said.
Chan and Sukumaran's lawyer said the ruling was a tragedy for his clients, and for anyone on death row in Indonesia.
"For me this is a setback for Indonesia's human rights movement," Todung Mulya Lubis said.
"This is a very disappointing day, a disappointing decision for everyone."
In the 469-page ruling, which took more than four hours to deliver, the judges ruled the death penalty was valid for the Australians, and two death-row Indonesians who were also part of the challenge.
The 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.
Nor did the penalty violate any international obligations. Indeed, Indonesia must act because it had signed a international convention on fighting drugs.
"The punishment given to these criminals has to be looked at as an effort to bring back social harmony to society," they said.
Drugs posed a serious threat to Indonesian society, and were "a danger of incalculable gravity".
"The death penalty mentioned in the narcotics law (under which the Bali Nine and the Indonesians were sentenced) has been formulated carefully and correctly," the ruling said, and was appropriate for the most serious drug offenders.
While Tuesday's challenge to the death penalty related to drug crimes only, the judges said the case had broader implications.
The outcome could have affected other death penalty cases, including those involving terrorists, they said.
"The lives of the victims of such crimes must also be taken into account," they said.
The other three death row members of the Bali Nine have already lodged their judicial reviews and are awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court.
In finding the drugs crimes among the "most serious crimes", the Constitutional Court judges put them on equal footing with genocide and crimes against humanity.
They said all death row convicts should be executed soon after their final appeals had been exhausted.
"The Constitutional Court advises all death sentence decisions which are final should be conducted immediately," the judges said.
But the three dissenting judges argued that the right to life was an absolute human right and the constitution needed to protect the lives of everyone, including foreigners.
Six Australians on death row for heroin smuggling were dealt another crushing legal blow when a court ruled Indonesia was within its rights to order their executions.
Three of the six Australians sentenced to die for their roles in the Bali Nine drug ring had sought the protection of Indonesia's constitution, arguing it enshrined life as a basic human right.
But Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Tuesday upheld the country's death penalty and ruled the right to life afforded by the constitution was not absolute.
The Australians' crimes in trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in April 2005 were so serious that Indonesia was within its rights to sentence them to die, it said.
The court also ruled the trio - Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and drug mule Scott Rush - did not have the right to challenge Indonesian law because they were foreigners.
Only three of the six Australians on death row were involved in Tuesday's challenge, but the case was seen as vital to all of them. It would have added considerable weight to their only legal avenue left - a judicial review.
Defence lawyers intend to press ahead with reviews. If those appeals fail, the drug smugglers and the Australian government will make a last ditch plea to Indonesia's president for clemency.
Rush's lawyer John North said Tuesday's majority six-three ruling by a panel of nine judges was upsetting. The focus now would be on the judicial review, to be lodged in Indonesia's Supreme Court within weeks.
"It's disappointing but the court is obviously ... divided and the dissenting opinion is very strong," North said. Rush's legal team will use the fact that three judges disagreed with the ruling to strengthen their case.
Rush's father Lee Rush said the court's ruling was a devastating blow for his 21-year-old son.
"I would hope that an Australian government official could make representation to the Indonesian president to save our son and the other Australians' lives," he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the government would appeal to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if all legal appeals failed.
"We will plead for them," he said.
Chan and Sukumaran's lawyer said the ruling was a tragedy for his clients, and for anyone on death row in Indonesia.
"For me this is a setback for Indonesia's human rights movement," Todung Mulya Lubis said.
"This is a very disappointing day, a disappointing decision for everyone."
In the 469-page ruling, which took more than four hours to deliver, the judges ruled the death penalty was valid for the Australians, and two death-row Indonesians who were also part of the challenge.
The 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.
Nor did the penalty violate any international obligations. Indeed, Indonesia must act because it had signed a international convention on fighting drugs.
"The punishment given to these criminals has to be looked at as an effort to bring back social harmony to society," they said.
Drugs posed a serious threat to Indonesian society, and were "a danger of incalculable gravity".
"The death penalty mentioned in the narcotics law (under which the Bali Nine and the Indonesians were sentenced) has been formulated carefully and correctly," the ruling said, and was appropriate for the most serious drug offenders.
While Tuesday's challenge to the death penalty related to drug crimes only, the judges said the case had broader implications.
The outcome could have affected other death penalty cases, including those involving terrorists, they said.
"The lives of the victims of such crimes must also be taken into account," they said.
The other three death row members of the Bali Nine have already lodged their judicial reviews and are awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court.
In finding the drugs crimes among the "most serious crimes", the Constitutional Court judges put them on equal footing with genocide and crimes against humanity.
They said all death row convicts should be executed soon after their final appeals had been exhausted.
"The Constitutional Court advises all death sentence decisions which are final should be conducted immediately," the judges said.
But the three dissenting judges argued that the right to life was an absolute human right and the constitution needed to protect the lives of everyone, including foreigners.