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ustralian convict Scott Anthony Rush, a member of the drug smuggler gang known as the Bali Nine, has won his appeal against his death penalty and is to serve a life sentence.

Rush’s lawyer, Frans Hendra Winarta, said Tuesday that the Indonesian Supreme Court had decided to commute his sentence to life, citing the fact that Rush had shown remorse for his actions while also taking into account his age.

“The Supreme Court has annulled his death penalty and changed the sentence to life.

“The reasons given are because he is still young, he expressed remorse and he has never been convicted. He was just a courier and not the mastermind, thus he does not deserve the death penalty,” Frans cited the court’s document, with Artidjo Alkostar as presiding judge in the case.

Rush, 25, had been facing the death penalty for his part in a 2005 plot to smuggle more than 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia.

Rush was only 19 and was on his first overseas trip when he was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport with 1.3 kilograms of heroin strapped to his legs underneath his clothing.

An Indonesian Supreme Court spokesman could not confirm that Rush’s appeal had been successful.

“I don’t know about that yet,” spokesman Djoko Sarwoko said as quoted by AFP newswire.

Last August, Rush made an emotional 13-minute statement to the Denpasar District Court during his appeal, as his parents watched from the court’s front row.

“I often wake up having nightmares. I often think about the firing squad and how long it would take to die,” he said.

The Denpasar District Court finished hearing Rush’s appeal last October and handed its recommendation to the Supreme Court.

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty and current Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan testified at Rush’s final appeal against his death sentence in September last year, saying he was a minor player.

Keelty said that Rush — who had an initial life sentence changed to death after an earlier appeal — was not a leader of the plot and did not deserve to be sent to face a firing squad.

Phelan noted that it was Rush’s first drugs offense and as such would receive a sentence of “less than 10 years” if he had been convicted in Australia, which does not have the death penalty.

Five other members of the gang — Martin Stephens, Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj and Thanh Nguyen — are serving life sentences.

The two alleged ringleaders of the Bali Nine gang, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, are also seeking to have their death sentences reduced to life.

Frans said the annulment of the death sentence was definitely good news for the team of lawyers and Rush’s family, adding that Rush would have the chance to become an anti-drug activist.