Four of the Bali Nine ­­­– journalistic shorthand for the nine young Australians convicted for trying to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin through Bali's airport last year, suffered a massive set back before Indonesia's Supreme Court in early September when the number amongst the nine facing death before a firing squad increased from two to six.

Appeals filed by both defense lawyers and prosecutors in the case, achieved the following results, reports balidiscovery.com:  

1. The death penalties for Andrew Chan, 21, and Myran Sukumaran, 25, marked as ringleaders were affirmed by the Supreme Court.  
2. The Indonesian Supreme Court Judges increased the standing sentence and imposed the death penalty for Scott Rush, 21, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and 19-year-old Matthew Norman. The death penalty was imposed by the Supreme Court countermanding a lower courts ruling last April that reduced their original life sentence of the four to 20 years.  
3. Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens have had their life in jail sentence reaffirmed by the Supreme Court  
4. Ranae Lawrence, 28, the sole woman in the group who managed to have her life sentence reduced to 20 years on local appeal in Denpasar, saw her 20-year sentence allowed to stand reportedly due to cooperation she provided prosecutors and police in convicting her co-conspirators, reports balidicovery.com.  

According to Indonesia’s judicial system, two options still remain open for appeal. Lawyers for those sentenced to death among the Bali Nine are expected to appeal to a special Indonesian court on constitutional law challenging the legality of the death sentence in Indonesia.

While an appeal for Presidential clemency remains the last resort of the Australians sitting on death row. However, this avenue remains narrowed by President Yudhoyono's steadfast refusal so far to consider mercy for any convicted drug smuggler.  

In the latest development, Kompas (13 September) reports that in a special interview with three Indonesian journalists from Kompas, Suara Pembaruan and SCTV in Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer stated that Australia is in principle against the death penalty. Nonetheless, in the case of the Bali Nine, the Australian government supports the heaviest possible sentence, since these criminals are fully aware of the risks they are taking. Therefore, when the entire process is completed, Australia will support an appeal to reduce the death sentence. “At the right moment, - not now – we will support a reduction of sentence from the death penalty to jail sentence. However, now is not yet the right moment” Downer said, as reported by the Kompas daily.  

In addition, Foreign Minister Downer also expressed praise for measures taken by the Indonesian government in the fight against terrorism. According to Downer, Indonesia has convinced the world that it has zero tolerance towards terrorism.