Lawyers for three men convicted of the Bali bombings in 2002 are seeking a judicial review of the death-by-firing-squad method of execution used by Indonesia.

The attorney-general said last week that Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron, and Imam Samudra would be put to death before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September.

Mahendradatta, the lawyer for the bombers, said: "That procedure contains elements of torture. If you shot the convict once and he didn't immediately die, the commander must shoot him at point blank in the head.

"Amrozi and the other two were given death sentences, not torture," he told a news conference on Tuesday.

He said the men would prefer to be beheaded.

Mahendradatta also complained that the sentence would be an act of "murder" as the courts had not followed due legal process by refusing to allow them to appear in person during their previous appeals.

"This is a criminal case that obliges the court to hear the defendant," he said.

'Legitimacy'

However, Bonaventura Daulat Nainggolan, a spokesman for the Indonesian attorney-general's office, said that the new legal bid would not delay the execution.

"As long as there is no decision by the constitutional court, then the law has legitimacy," he said.

The three men lost their final appeal early this month and the attorney-general's office said it holds documents from the families and the bombers that waive their legal right to ask for a presidential pardon.

Amrozi, Mukhlas, and Imam Samudra were convicted over their roles in organising and carrying out the co-ordinated bombings of nightclubs on the resort island of Bali in 2002 which killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists.