Indonesia's Supreme Court has commuted the death sentences for three Australians convicted of drug trafficking to life imprisonment following appeals, a court official said.
The three were among nine Australians - eight men and one woman - arrested in the resort island of Bali in 2005 with 8.2 kg of heroin.
"The sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment," a Supreme Court official, Zarof Ricar, said.
Ricar did not name the three because the court had not publicly announced the verdicts, but Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper said they were Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen.
The Telegraph said court documents and an interview with one of the judges revealed that the trio's previous good character and youth played a major role in the decision to grant them mercy.
The three had launched a case review after the Supreme Court sentenced them and another three of the so-called Bali Nine to death after previous appeals in 2006.
The three have expressed remorse and apologised to the court for their stupidity.
The other three Bali Nine members - Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were said to be the ringleaders, and Scott Rush, one of the couriers - have yet to lodge their own case review appeals against the death penalty.
The remaining two men in the group are serving life in prison while the only female member was given a 20-year sentence.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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