Canberra – An Indonesian court's ruling that the country's anti-terror laws can't be applied retroactively does not necessarily mean those already convicted in the Bali bombings will be set free, the Australian government said Friday.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer predicted that the bombers' lawyers would use the court's decision to argue for their clients' freedom. "But that doesn't mean that they will be acquitted, that their convictions will be overturned," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The October 12, 2002 Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Downer said if the convictions of 32 militants in the attack were quashed, Canberra would urge them to be charged again.

"If they get overturned on some technicality in an appeal, well in those circumstances we'll be working with the Indonesian government encouraging them to bring fresh charges, if that's going to be at all possible," he said.

In a 5-4 majority decision on Friday, the Indonesian Constitutional Court said that the new anti-terror laws – passed in the months after the Bali bombings – could not be used for crimes committed before their enactment.

But it went on to proclaim an exception for those already convicted for the 2002 blasts on the resort island.

The blasts claimed the highest ever Australian death toll in a terror attack and are considered this nation's equivalent of the September 11 attacks in the United States.