Jakarta – All convictions of the Bali bombers remain in force despite a legal decision that the law under which they were tried is unconstitutional, the head of the court which made the ruling said yesterday.

The ruling last Friday by the Constitutional Court had sparked fears that the 33 people sentenced for the worst terror attack since September 11, 2001 could see their convictions overturned.

The court said law no. 16 of 2003, which made a separate anti-terror law retroactive to cover the Bali nightclub blasts of October 2002, violates a constitutional ban on such legislation.

The cancellation of this, chief judge Jimly Asshiddiqie said, "does not annul the verdicts for the Bali bombers ... at the time of their conviction, law no. 16 was still effective".

"As for cases which are still in court or in the appeal process, we leave it to judges to consider," he said, adding that judges can take "feelings of justice" into consideration. He did not elaborate.

Courts in Bali sentenced three people to death and jailed 30 others for terms ranging from life to three years for the attack which killed 202 people. Defence lawyers said they will use the new ruling as grounds for appeals, including final appeals by the three on death row. "All laws are valid until they are revoked," Judge Asshiddiqie told reporters.

Police said they will now not use the anti-terror law to prosecute five new Bali bombing suspects. Inspector General I Made Mangku Pastika, who led the hunt for the attackers, said he still expects to get convictions using other legislation.

The only Bali suspect currently on trial is Jhoni Hendrawan, alias Idris, who is also charged under the anti-terrorism law.