'You've got to have hope'

August 16, 2007 12:00am

THE parents of Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush are doggedly maintaining the belief their son will ultimately beat the death penalty.

"I'm not rolling up my swag yet. I'm still optimistic - I've got to be,'' Scott's father Lee Rush said yesterday.

Mr Rush was responding to reports from Indonesia that the Denpasar District Court had rejected all legal arguments to downgrade the death penalty for three of the Bali Nine - Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen.

"We're not sure how Scott will be travelling after he gets wind of it but we are trying to speak positively about it,'' Mr Rush said.

Mr Rush said the family - which had established the Australians Against Capital Punishment lobby group - was still awaiting the outcome of a constitutional challenge mounted by their lawyers.

The Indonesian Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on whether the imposition of the death penalty for a drug crime offends the country's constitution.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the two Bali Nine ringleaders who are also facing the death penalty, are also parties to the challenge.

The Rush family's Australian lawyer, John North, said he understood that while the District Court had made an adverse finding on the appeal, the Supreme Court was yet to make the final decision on their case.

"Any adverse finding by the Supreme Court may make our case for Scott more difficult,'' he said. Mr North said a positive finding from the Constitutional Court would be used to bolster his client's appeal against the death penalty.

Rush was 19 when he was arrested in April 2005 by Indonesian authorities acting on information supplied by the Australian Federal Police.

Of the four mules arrested at the airport he was the only one sentenced to execution.

Two others, Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens, were given life sentences, and Renae Lawrence 20 years' jail.

Source : News.com.au