Indonesian court says foreigners can't challenge laws

JAKARTA, Oct 30 (Reuters) Indonesia's Constitutional Court said today that foreigners could not challenge the country's laws, after three Australians on death row challenged the use of the death penalty for drug offences.

Lawyers for the three Australians, who were sentenced to death for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia's resort island of Bali, argue that the death penalty is unconstitutional because the constitution guarantees the right to life.

A panel of nine judges at the Constitutional Court was due to pass a verdict on the petition later today.

''Foreigners have no legal standing to file a judicial review,'' said I Dewa Palguna, one of the court's judges, citing the law on which the institution was set up.

REUTERS PD RAI1044