KEY POINTS:
Three Bali bombers on death row in Indonesia are making a desperate last-ditch attempt to avoid execution.
A lawyer for the three - brothers Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas) and bombing mastermind Imam Samudra - is attempting to challenge their death sentences in Cilacap District Court,
in Central Java.
Lawyer Achmad Michdan tonight lodged an application with the court for a "sort of second judicial review".
"We have submitted a sort of judicial review because we consider it's peculiar," he said, after lodging the application.
"First, there was no trial for the judicial review, but then suddenly there was a decision.
"Secondly, the trial was not transparent because they are still using retroactive laws."
The move, of questionable legal merit, could be a tactic to stall proceedings, as a 30-day deadline for the trio to seek clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono approaches.
The three have repeatedly told media they would not be seeking a pardon.
The men played key roles in the twin nightclub bombings in Kuta, Bali, on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
The clerk at Cilacap District Court, Suroso, accepted the application and said it would be passed to the head of the court for consideration.
"We will have a meeting about this, we cannot give a decision on this," he said.
Michdan, who visited the trio in prison today, said the lawsuit challenges the 30-day deadline handed to the bombers and the legality of the way documents have been distributed.
Indonesian law makes no provision for a second judicial review.
"I think there's no reason why a judicial review trial could not be in Cilacap," Michdan said.
"For these Bali bombers, we cannot say that this has been a good legal process.
"They must be given chance for better legal treatment."
The trio are being housed in a jail on Nusakambangan Island - known as Indonesia's Alcatraz - which is in Cilacap district, in Central Java.
Michdan disputed the 30-day deadline for seeking clemency before execution.
"If all who have received final decision from Supreme Court must be executed within 30 days, then there would be zero death convicted in prison, right?" Michdan said.
"But the fact is, there are hundreds of death convicted.
"In Nusakambangan prison itself, there's about 10 death convicted.
"Even one of them has been there for 43 years and not executed yet.
"But look at Amrozi's case, the verdict was issued in September."
The trio had been due to be executed in 2006, but their executions were halted after they applied for judicial review of their cases.
The final requests for judicial review have now been rejected, and the men face imminent execution.
Prosecutors visited the prison on January 2 to hand the death row inmates copies of the Supreme Court decision rejecting their demand for a case review, marking the start of the 30-day deadline.
The Bali bombings and several other deadly attacks have been blamed on militants from South East Asia terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
- AAP
