Vigil for condemned drug traffickers

Lawyers for convicted Bali drug trafficker Myuran Sukumaran hope to file a judicial review of his case and stall his execution. Photo / Getty

Supporters are preparing a candelight vigil for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in Sydney as hopes fade the Bali Nine duo will escape an Indonesian firing squad.

Organiser and Archibald Prize-winning artist Ben Quilty will be joined by singer Megan Washington and actor David Wenham at the Music for Mercy vigil in Martin Place this evening.

Quilty, who befriended Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31, over art classes at Bali's Kerobokan prison, says he hopes the vigil will send a message.

He says the pair have been rehabilitated and are not the men they once were.

"They made stupid, self-indulgent mistakes, but so did I," Quilty said.

It seems increasingly likely the two men will soon be executed in Indonesia over their role in a 2005 heroin-smuggling plot.

It emerged yesterday they are among the death row prisoners the country plans to execute next.

Lawyers for the pair are in Bali preparing to lodge a final court appeal after the rejection of presidential clemency.

Indonesia's attorney-general HM Prasetyo has not revealed the names of the death row prisoner to be executed next. However, Chan and Sukumaran are the only Australians on death row in Indonesia, and he has said previously they will be dealt with together.

"We are still finding the right time for the next executions of citizens of France, Ghana, Cordova, Brazil, The Philippines, Australia and one Indonesian," he told a parliamentary committee, as quoted by local news website detik.com.

As Mr Prasetyo spoke in parliament on Wednesday, lawyers for the two Bali Nine members met on the island to finish a final legal effort to save them.

Jakarta-based lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis says President Joko Widodo rejected clemency for Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, based on advice that hadn't evaluated the change they have achieved since their 2005 drug trafficking arrest.

Mr Lubis will also argue there was a misapplication of the law, and "serious mistakes by previous judges".

But there are hurdles to getting his case heard.

First, the applicants are supposed to go to court in person to register their application for a judicial review, known as a PK.

Permission for Chan and Sukumaran to leave Kerobokan has been denied, so it's hoped a court registrar will go to them.

Second, is a legal argument over whether a second PK can be heard.

Mr Lubis says that shouldn't be an issue in death penalty cases.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry and barrister Julian McMahon visited the men at Kerobokan jail on Wednesday, along with family.

Chan's mother Helen joined his brother Michael, while Sukumaran's mother and siblings also visited.

Diplomatic efforts also continue for the pair, however in an interview with CNN this week, Mr Joko said there would be "no compromise" for drug dealers sentenced to death.

Mr Prasetyo said the next executions would likely again be held on the Central Java prison island of Nusakambangan, but there were issues to consider.

"There were obstacles," he told the committee.

"The intrusion of human rights activists, the efforts of our electronic media reporters, trying to disguise themselves as fishermen.

"We can prevent them from getting close to the execution location."

- AAP