British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, 56, has lost her appeal over a UK government refusal to fund her legal challenge against a death sentence imposed by an Indonesian court for drug smuggling.
Her lawyers attempted to challenge a High Court ruling that the government was not legally obliged to pay for "an adequate lawyer" to represent her.
But today three senior judges headed by Lord Dyson, Master of the Rolls, dismissed her challenge in the Court of Appeal.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office refused to fund her case as a matter of government policy.
She was sentenced to death by firing squad by a court in Bali for taking £1.6 million of cocaine on to the island.
In January, the UK High Court upheld the government's stance of not providing legal funding for British nationals arrested abroad, even in exceptional circumstances.
After the High Court gave its decision, Sandiford received a private donation of over £2,500 that enabled her to be represented by an Indonesian lawyer at the subsequent Bali appeal.
Having lost that first appeal, she is now in a race against time to raise money to take her case to Indonesia's Supreme Court in Jakarta.
The appeal court heard on Monday that Sandiford needs about £8,000 to fight on.
The sum of £2,000 has already been found, but around £6,000 is still needed from the government as money from private sources following publicity was "fully exhausted", said lawyers for Sandiford, who is not entitled to legal aid in Indonesia.
Lord Dyson, sitting with two other judges, said the court had given "very careful consideration" to the issues raised in what he described as a "troubling" case.
He said the reasons for the judgment would be given "as soon as possible".
Lord Dyson, when announcing the decision to dismiss the appeal, said it was "obviously a terribly serious matter".
He said it was "most unfortunate" that the sum required to secure the representation sought by the appellant - roughly £6,000 - was "relatively speaking" a "very small sum indeed".
The judge added: "But that cannot affect the principle that we have had to consider and it cannot affect our decision.
"But it may be that other means may be found to secure the relatively small sum in the course of the next few days."
Rosa Curling, a solicitor with law firm Leigh Day, which is representing Sandiford, said outside court: "We are obviously very disappointed by the decision and we will consider with our client once we have received the reasoning of the court whether to appeal to the Supreme Court."