Court puts off decision on death row Australians

Two Australian drug convicts on death row in Indonesia will not be executed this month after a court on Thursday postponed their appeal hearing against the rejection of a request for presidential clemency.

Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have already been transferred to the prison island of Nusakambangan where the executions would take place.

The two Australians are among a group of 10 drug convicts due to be executed together by firing squad on Nusakambangan.

Others in the group include citizens of France, Brazil, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria and Indonesia.

At least half of the convicts have ongoing legal challenges.

Sukumaran and Chan were arrested in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of the two members of the so-called Bali Nine, but President Joko Widodo has refused to budge.

The attorney general has said it would not set a date for the executions until after all of the legal processes are completed for all 10 on death row.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said on Wednesday it could take weeks or even months for the executions to take place.

The executions "should have been carried out weeks ago but some have filed a judicial review in the courts", he told ElShinta radio late on Wednesday.

"The attorney general has delayed it to wait for the judicial reviews, so there won't be any legal problems afterward."

The French convict, Serge Atlaoui, and the Filipina, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, have also lodged appeals to their death sentences, which are currently working their way through the courts.

Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap.

Five foreigners were among six people executed in January, the first executions since President Widodo took office in October.

With the upcoming executions, Indonesia will have exercised the death penalty more times in a single year than ever before.

Reuters - AFP