Bali Australians now face death

The group were trying to smuggle heroin out of Bali

Indonesia's Supreme Court has increased the sentences for four Australians convicted of drug smuggling in Bali to the death penalty, officials said.

The four men were part of the so-called Bali Nine group convicted of trying to smuggle heroin to Australia.

The sentences were increased after prosecutors appealed against a reduction in their lengthy prison terms in April, court officials said.

This means that six of the group are now facing the death penalty.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said an appeal for clemency would be made "at the appropriate time".

"I have no idea whether those appeals will be successful or not," he said.

'Retried'

The so-called Bali Nine were arrested in April 2005 after trying to smuggle more than 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.

Some were detained at Bali's airport with heroin strapped to their bodies while others were arrested in a nearby hotel room.

Two men said to be the ringleaders were sentenced to death in February this year.

Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman were all given life terms which were then reduced to 20 years in April.

But the Supreme Court imposed the death penalty after an appeal by prosecutors against the reduction, a more severe penalty than the prosecutors had requested.

"The Supreme Court has granted appeals by the prosecutors and retried the cases on its own, resulting in death sentences for the three," Zarof Ricar, director of criminal justice at the Supreme Court, told Reuters news agency.

It also imposed the death penalty for a fourth man, Scott Rush, who was previously given a life sentence, Mr Ricar said.

Lee Rush, the father of Scott Rush, said he was astonished at the death sentence.

"I'm stunned. I'm quite dumbfounded about the decision, totally out of the blue," he said.