The Indonesian government has told the global rights watchdog group, Human Rights Watch, that it plans to address the mistreatment of political prisoners in Papua.

In its new report on freedom of expression in Indonesia, HRW found that jails hold at least 100 political prisoners from the Papua and Moluccas regions, and some are being tortured.

HRW has met Foreign Ministry and Corrections Department officials to discuss the findings.

HRW Asia's Phil Robertson says they urged the officials to press for better treatment and release of political prisoners, as well as to have investigations into alleged torture

"Very little has been done to look into those torture allegations by these prisoners. And in some cases, the torture was happening for days and days and was significant and very sustained. And people didn't receive any medical treatment afterwards to recover from the effects of the torture."

He says the government admitted that the torture detailed in HRW's report is indefensible.