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Lawyer Fahmi Bachmid formally withdrew from the appeal in Denpasar District Court yesterday, after a protracted bid to have the appeal held in Cilacap District Court, off central Java, closer to their island prison.

Denpasar District Court has also rejected repeated requests that the three be allowed to travel to Bali to attend their final appeal.

The court is holding three separate judicial review hearings, one for each of the three terrorists, the so-called smiling assassin Amrozi Nurhasyim, his brother Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas) and Imam Samudra.

The trio played key roles in the Bali nightclub bombings on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The judicial case reviews have delayed the impending executions of the men, none of whom were present in court yesterday.

Mr Bachmid presented a letter to Denpasar District Court formally objecting to the decision not to move the hearing or bring the convicted terrorists to the Bali court.

"We really object to the judges decision," Mr Bachmid said. "The reasons are really unreasonable according to the existing law."

But Chief Judge Ida Bagus Putu Madeg said the judges retained their same position.

"The judges still reject the request from the appealer," he told the court hearing Samudra`s case.

Mr Bachmid then thanked the judges, but said he had no alternative but to withdraw from the case.

"I will give it (the case) back to Amrozi, Samudra and Ali Ghufron, whether to continue with the judicial review or not" he said.

Outside the court, an angry Mr Bachmid said the trio must now send a formal letter if they want to formally withdraw the appeal.

"I leave it all to them because their rights have been amputated by the judges," Mr Bachmid said.

"The convicted haven`t but we are withdrawing we don`t want to be blamed (for its failure)."

Outside the court, prosecutor Olopam Nainggolan said lawyers were waiting to see what would happen next.

The bombers had originally been due to be executed in 2006. But their executions were halted after they applied for a judicial review of their cases.

Their lawyers walked out of their earlier judicial review hearing in protest over a legal decision and it was later rejected.

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