Cilacap: Muslim cleric Hasan Makarim is ready.

Every day that he catches the ferry to Nusakambangan island he packs extra clothes. Any moment those on death row could learn they have just 72 hours to live and Hasan be asked to share their final days.

Under previous governments the timing of the killings was kept a secret, so Hasan is always prepared.

"My role is to prepare the convicts to be ready to face what they have to face," he says. "God gives the strength to these people not me. I am just the mediator."

Hasan attended the executions of Muslims Namaona Denis from Malawi and Rani Adriani from Indonesia on January 18.

Denis was sentenced to death in 2001 after being convicted of smuggling 940 grams of heroin at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta. According to reports, Denis did not understand his trial proceedings as he was not provided with adequate interpretation.

Hasan said counselling Denis was difficult because he was convinced until the end his lawyer would save him from the firing squad.

"I had to find a balance between not disturbing his mental state but at the same time preparing him for death," Hasan says. "The two are completely opposite."

Spiritual counsellors for the 10 drug felons now facing the firing squad - including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - have a similarly delicate task of balancing hope with reality.

Five of the condemned have ongoing legal proceedings and lawyers for Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte are still hopeful he will be spared because he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Hasan, who has worked in the seven prisons on Nusakambangan island for 25 years, says it is easier to provide counsel to someone with whom he already has a relationship. "Because of that the person can go into the isolation room calmer," he said.

To offer succour through someone's last days and at the moment of death requires enormous mental preparation.

"I pray before the execution, on the execution day and when I have to see the convict for the last time. I say a lot of prayers at the mosque because I need strength to do my job," Hasan says. "I pray the person I have to meet can also be strengthened."

Edyward Kaban, the head of the prosecutor's office in Cilacap, agrees that it is best when a prisoner already knows the religious counsellor who will accompany them in their last days.

"It is difficult if he doesn't know the man," Mr Edyward says.

He says religious counsellors from all faiths are registered to visit Nusakambangan prisons and know the inmates well.

However it could also be possible for prisoners to choose their own spiritual counsellor if they present their credentials to the Cilacap prosecutor's office.

Father Charles Burrows, a priest who lives in Cilacap, was furious when a mix-up last January meant he was not allowed on the island to administer the last rites to Brazilian drug trafficker Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira.

Gularte's family has requested he be at his execution - although Father Burrows hopes it will not come to that - and at least two other prisoners are also Catholics.

"If they don't let me go I will go to all the embassies - there will be very strong protests," Burrows says.

Meanwhile, Hasan says there are four stages of repentance required to get to heaven. One must completely forget one's previous life, show remorse, commit to not sinning again and pray to God.

"I told Denis he had a very short time so he had to open his heart sincerely and aim his prayer to the highest place. I also prayed for him.

"The guard stood at the front of his cell and said: 'There is a visitor at your gate. Are you ready?' Denis nodded, rose from his chair, went to the gate and met the guard who took him to the execution site. I was optimistic he was ready."

Later, after the executions were over, Hasan was met by journalists at the ferry dock. "I told them Rani and Denis ended their lives well."

with Karuni Rompies