The group says the government has not announced a date for the executions, but has warned that “the time is approaching.” Jakarta-based diplomats have reported that the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) informed them that the executions will take place on Friday, it further says.

“President Jokowi should acknowledge the death penalty’s barbarity and avoid a potential diplomatic firestorm by sparing the lives of the 14 or more people facing imminent execution,” HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine.

“Jokowi should also ban the death penalty for drug crimes, which international law prohibits, rather than giving the go-ahead for more multiple executions,” he went on.

(Read also : Execution spree in Indonesia terribly worrying: UN)

Merry Utami, a Sukoharjo resident, and Pakistani national Zulfiqar Ali, have been transferred to Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, where the executions will take place.

The death row prisoners also include four Nigerians, one Zimbabwean, and several other Indonesians. The Nigerians are Eugene Ape, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke, Michael Titus Igweh, and Obinna Nwajagu, who were all arrested for drug trafficking in 2002 or 2003.

“Indonesia’s use of the death penalty is contrary to international human rights law, statements of UN human rights experts, and various UN bodies,” HRW says.

The group says human rights law upholds every human being’s “inherent right to life” and limits the death penalty to “the most serious crimes,” typically crimes resulting in death or serious bodily harm.

“Indonesia should join the many countries already committed to the UN General Assembly’s December 18, 2007 resolution calling for a moratorium on executions, a move by UN member countries toward abolition of the death penalty.” (ebf)