INDONESIA has put to death a Malawian drug trafficker in the country's first execution for several years - sending a chilling signal to the two Australian Bali Nine members currently on death row.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are in Kerobokan Prison facing death by firing squad as Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono weighs up their bids for clemency.

The last execution in Indonesia was in late 2008, leading to a belief that the government was moving away from capital punishment.

But officials announced on Friday that a 48-year old African man convicted for drug trafficking in 2004 had been executed by firing squad.

Adami Wilson was executed in the early hours of Friday in the Thousand Islands, an archipelago popular with holidaymakers to the north of the capital Jakarta, Attorney General Basrief Arief said.

He had been sentenced to death for smuggling 1kg of heroin into the country.

Attorney General Office spokesman Untung Arimuladi also said nine other convicts were to be executed this year.

The news was described by Amnesty International as a "shocking and regressive step''.

"This is really outrageous news. We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, but Indonesia's long period without executions and the pledge to put even more people to death, makes this even more shocking,'' said Papang Hidayat, Amnesty International's Indonesia Researcher.

"What makes this so disappointing is that we have really seen the Indonesian government sending progressive signals on moving away from the death penalty in recent years.''

Sukumaran, 31, and Chan, 29, were arrested and jailed as part of the so-called Bali Nine in 2005 after attempting to courier 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia.

Late last year Chan said all he and Sukumaran could do was "pray and ask for a second chance''.

No one jailed on the resort island of Bali, where many foreigners are held mainly on drugs offences, is due to be executed this year as they are all pursuing legal challenges, according to Indonesia's Attorney General's Office.

This includes a British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford who was sentenced to death in January for cocaine smuggling.

The AGO said in February that there were 111 people on death row in Indonesia, 60 of whom are Indonesians, including two convicted terrorists.

Executions in Indonesia are usually carried out by firing squad in the middle of the night in isolated locations. The prisoner is notified of his execution date at least 72 hours beforehand.

Originally published as Indonesia resumes prison executions