Jakarta – Growing numbers of Indonesians are being jailed for their political views under "draconian" laws that call into question President Megawati Sukarnoputri's commitment to political openness, two leading rights groups said.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a statement the convictions were an alarming development leading up to Indonesia's first direct presidential election next year.

In the aftermath of former autocrat Suharto's downfall in 1998 following three decades of iron rule, all political prisoners were freed. Since then, the two organizations said at least 46 prisoners of conscience had been jailed, with 39 under Megawati, who took power in July 2001.

"Under the veneer of democratization and away from the spotlight on the war on terror and military action in Aceh, a quietly growing trend is emerging of regressive policies aimed at curtailing political dissent in Indonesia," Human Rights Watch said in a separate report accompanying the statement.

"Draconian colonial-era laws – which most Indonesians had assumed had been relegated to the dustbin of history – have been dredged up to facilitate politically motivated prosecutions and again are being used as a political tool to silence dissent."

Human Rights Watch said it was concerned Megawati was dismantling fundamental rights to freedom of expression to spare herself and her government from public criticism. Indonesia has generally seen a flowering in media freedom and public protest since Suharto fell, although the periodic convictions have begun to raise eyebrows. Megawati herself at least once expressed irritation at frequent street protests that hit Indonesia over myriad issues.

In response to criticism Jakarta was clamping down on freedom of expression in Aceh, the Foreign Ministry last week said it was an exaggeration to suggest democracy was at threat or that Aceh was closed to monitoring because of some high-profile cases.

Indonesia launched a military offensive in rebellious Aceh in May and put curbs on foreign media reporting the conflict.

The two rights groups expressed concern about use of a law that allows imprisonment of up to six years for insulting the president or vice president. Since late 2002, at least 14 activists had been jailed under this code, they said. Some had burned portraits of Megawati or her deputy.

"Repressive legislation used under the authoritarian regime of former President Suharto has no place in a country which claims to be set on a path toward a fully-fledged democracy," said Ingrid Massage of Amnesty.

Both organizations said in many cases arrests had been made without warrants and detainees had been denied access to lawyers, and in some cases, subject to torture and other ill-treatment.