Indonesia will soon execute a man who killed 42 women and girls in an attempt to gain magical powers, and a woman for her role in killing five people from one family, despite a request for clemency from the human rights group Amnesty International.

Amnesty said it recognized the need to address serious crime, but was "convinced the death penalty does not provide a solution".

Police say Ahmad Suradji, 57, from North Sumatra, lured his female victims to a sugarcane field near his home, buried them up to the waist and then strangled them, before reburying their bodies with the heads pointing toward his house.

Suradji was arrested in May 1997 following the discovery of a body in a field in Lubukpakan, a village in North Sumatra province. Dozens of other corpses were later found nearby.

A district court found the sorcerer guilty, a year later, of killing 42 women and girls between the ages 11 and 30, over an 11-year period. He was sentenced to death.

"We have received formal notification that Suradji will soon be executed," said his lawyer, Mansar, adding that he did not know the date. His client was placed in isolation Monday, however, indicating it could be within days.

"I just met him at the prison this morning, and I think that was our last meeting," he said as quoted by AP

Many Indonesians believe in witchcraft and Suradji claimed he had the power to influence people's futures. The victims were believed to have been seeking his help to make their husbands or boyfriends faithful. Suradji said he had hoped their ritual killings would increase his powers.

Suradji's wife, Tumini, was sentenced to death for assisting with the murders, but her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Sumiarsih was sentenced to death in 1989, together with her husband, for the killing of five people in from the same family in Surabaya in 1988. Also receiving the death sentence were their son Sugeng and son-in-law Adi Saputro.

Adi Saputro was executed in 1992, while her husband Adi Prayitno, died in 2001 because of an illness. Sugeng is reportedly to be executed the same day as Sumiarsih.

Sumiarsih on Thursday proposed an amnesty to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, after her request for pardon was rejected.

On Wednesday three priests from two different churches visited Malang female prison to conduct prayer services with Sumiarsih.

M Sudi Dharma of the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI) said he and his fellow priests came on their own initiative for a prayer service.

"We have been frequently providing Mrs. Sumiarsih with spiritual counseling and prayer services," the priest said.

According to Sudi, Sumiarsih is in a relatively healthy and stable condition, but kept on crying during the service, especially as he read out a verse from the Bible about the happiness of people who had received God's mercy.

Her daughter Rosewati accompanied her, said Sudi, who is also chairman of the East Java inter-churches assembly body.

The other visiting priests were Timotius Arifin and Rony Daud of the GBI Representative of Christ Kingdom, who jointly led an entourage from Malang, Surabaya and Denpasar.

No definite date has been set for the execution, but sources say a closed meeting is to be held at the East Java provincial prosecutor's office on Friday to make a decision.

A group of representatives from the East Java prosecutor's office who visited the prison the same day refused to give information on the matter.

Apriadi Gunawan contributed to this article from Medan, North Sumatra, and Wahyoe Boediwardhana from Malang, East Java.

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