Indonesia: Court turns down appeal of Australian convicts against death sentence

An Indonesian court has turned down the appeal made by the two Australians against the president's rejection of clemency plea.

Upholding the president's verdict, the State Administrative Court in capital Jakarta overturned the last-ditch efforts made by Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

"The appeal by the challenger is rejected," said the presiding judge Ujang Abdullah.

The duo, the team-leaders of the gang that infamously are known as Bali Nine, will have no further legal avenues left, said the attorney general's office. The two Australian citizens were convicted for drug offences in 2006 and will be executed by a firing squad.

"We will continue our legal efforts," said the Australians' lawyer Leonard Arpan after the ruling was announced in hopes of delaying the punishment.

Chan, 31 and Sukumaran, 33, had already been transferred to Nusakambangan Island from a prison in Bali to carry out the death penalty, despite widespread condemnation and a diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia.

After their pleas were rejected by lower courts President Joko Widodo had said: "The first thing I need to say firmly is that there shouldn't be any intervention towards the death penalty because it is our sovereign right to exercise our law."

The convicts were scheduled to be executed in February, but it was delayed by a month due to administrative difficulties at the island's prison. A French citizen and Brazilian who are also facing death penalty have already been moved to the island.