An Indonesian court has sentenced two Australian men to die by firing squad for trying to smuggle heroin from the resort island of Bali.
The sentence matched what prosecutors had demanded for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two of the accused masterminds of a group of nine Australians arrested on Bali last April for attempting to smuggle more than 18 lb of heroin to Australia.
The court also sentenced two drug couriers to life in jail, after giving the same punishment to two others yesterday. The four couriers were found with heroin strapped to their bodies at Denpasar airport.
Chan (22), from Sydney, shook his head, stared at the ceiling and then smirked when the verdict was read.
"There are no mitigating factors. His statements throughout the trial were convoluted and he did not own up to his actions," chief judge Arif Supratman told the Denpasar District Court. "His actions . . . tainted Bali's name as a resort island."
In later hearing, Sukumaran (24), also from Sydney, received the same sentence.
Execution of any of the defendants could affect Indonesia's ties with Australia, which has abolished the death penalty.
Australia had urged Jakarta not to impose the death penalty on any of the group and will plead for clemency for any condemned to die, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.