Bali trio lose execution dispute

Chan (L) and Sukumaran were among those sentenced to death

Three Australians sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug smuggling have lost a legal challenge to the country's capital punishment laws.
Lawyers for the men - members of the so-called Bali Nine group - had argued that Indonesia's constitution guaranteed their right to life.

A favourable ruling could have helped in an appeal against their sentences.

But the Constitutional Court in Jakarta ruled that the death penalty was allowable for drug trafficking.

Genocide comparison

The nine - eight men and one woman - were arrested in April 2005 after trying to take more than 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin from Bali to Australia.

Some were detained at Bali's airport with the drug strapped to their bodies while others were arrested in a nearby hotel room.

Six of the group were sentenced to death under the country's stringent drug laws - the others received lengthy jail terms.

Lawyers for three of those sentenced to death - Scott Rush, and the reputed ringleaders of the gang, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - argued the punishment infringed their rights.

Two convicted Indonesian drug dealers also put their names to the legal petition.

But the nine-judge panel ruled against them, saying there was "no substantive difference" between drugs crimes and other serious crimes such as genocide.

They said there were limits on the right to life, and that it was important not to uphold rights of criminals at the expense of their victims.