Transfer of Bali Nine duo delayed as island prison already full

The transfer of the Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to the island where they will be executed has been delayed because facilities on the island are not equipped to hold more than five prisoners at a time.

Authorities were preparing to move the pair from Kerobokan prison, where they have spent the last ten years, to the island in central Java where they were to be executed this week.

However, Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo has now requested that the transfer be postponed.

A spokesman for Indonesia's attorney-general said their transfer has been delayed because Nusakambangan island, where they will be executed, is not yet ready.

Spokesman Tony Spontana also said the Australian government had requested more time for Chan and Sukumaran to spend with their families, and a Brazilian prisoner also due to be executed was suffering a mental illness.

"I'm sure this week there won't be any transfers," Mr Spontana said.

A team from the attorney-general's department had inspected Nusakambangan and found issues that must be resolved before moving the prisoners.

Problems had arisen because of the plan to execute more than five people there.

"The space for the executions and the isolation cells will need some adjustments," he said.

Mr Spontana said there were already five prisoners in the space reserved, and on seeing this the team realised no others would fit.

"I'm sure this week there will be no transfer because technically, to build new isolation cells or to change the existing capacity will take time," he said.

"Then there's also building an alternative location for the execution field or the place of execution which will also take time."

In relation to drug smuggler Rodrigo Gularte, the attorney-general had ordered a second opinion on his medical condition, which may take time.

Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran had been calling for a halt to plans to move them after receiving a summons to appear in court.

Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis has been asked to front the state administrative court in Jakarta next Tuesday, where he is challenging the presidential decree that denied them clemency.

"We are talking about the lives of human beings," he told reporters on Monday.

"Everyone dealing with this must take all arguments put forward in the clemency petition seriously.

"Rejecting the clemency might end up killing, or ending the lives, of the petitioners."

The lawyers argue President Joko Widodo's blanket ban on clemency to Chan, Sukumaran and all death row drug offenders, failed to judge individual cases on their merits as required.

Mr Lubis had urged Mr Prasetyo to halt plans to move the men.

"It's hard to reverse that, once they are moved there," he said.

"For the sake of justice and fairness I think it is fair for the attorney-general to wait for this legal process to finish."