[marden]

Christians executed in Indonesia

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1746918.htm

PM - Friday, 22 September , 2006 18:35:00
Reporter: David Mark

MARK COLVIN: Indonesian police executed three Christian militants early this morning for leading attacks on Muslims in central Sulawesi.

The men were convicted five years ago for their role in a violent uprising in the district of Poso in 2000.

More than 200 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in those events. The attacks were part of a larger wave of religious violence in the province from 1998 to 2002.

More than 1,000 Christians and Muslims died.

The executions have been a long time coming, but some commentators argue that the men's punishment was excessive.

[...]

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Certainly there does appear to be, particularly in the case of the Poso three, an eagerness to carry out this execution which we haven't seen with other matters. But they certainly weren't the only people involved in training, nor were they the only combatants. Many other people actually carried out numbers of massacres on both sides. These people haven't been charged or convicted, and the death sentence hasn't been handed down in their case.

So a lot of people are asking why these three people have been singled out.

DAVID MARK: What is the subtext there?

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Well, the subtext is, at least some people believe the subtext is that these people are being, were executed for the purposes of vengeance or revenge, essentially, to satisfy Islamist concern over the existence of Christian militias and the killings that did go on in central Sulawesi, on both sides.

But obviously Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim state, and the Muslim view tends to get precedence.

Now, again, I think technically the process might have been correct, but given that many other people have not been charged or sentenced, much less executed, who've been also involved in the conflict, and indeed in many cases in much worse ways, I think this really does send a signal that the Christians really need to be very careful in the future.

Do any of us have questions about why Christians living in a Muslim nation would incite to kill Muslims?

It's not in the Bible to kill for Jesus like it is in the Koran to slay disbelievers in the way of Allah.

Christians are not guaranteed any special privileges for dying for Jesus like Muslims are guaranteed a special privileges for martyrdom.

Christians DO believe in self defense where Muslims are instructed to conquer and convert the world to Islam.

But I will hold off on making any judgments until I get more facts.

[marden]

Here we go. The next front in the fight against something. It was against terror. This is...I don't yet know. Religious persecution?

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ory?id=2477170

Christian Mobs Riot In Indonesia

Mobs Burn Cars, Loot Muslim-Owned Shops in Indonesia Following Christian Militants' Executions

By IRWAN FIRDAUS
The Associated Press

PALU, Indonesia - Christian mobs torched cars, blockaded roads and looted Muslim-owned shops in violence touched off by Friday's executions of three Roman Catholics convicted of instigating attacks on Muslims.

Some 200 inmates escaped after mobs assaulted a jail in the town of Atambua, sending guards fleeing to the nearby jungle. By midday only 20 had been recaptured, deputy national police chief Lt. Gen. Adang Dorodjatun said, calling on the others to turn themselves in.

And on the island of Flores, the executed men's birthplace, machete-wielding mobs ran through the streets Friday, sending women and children running in panic, police and witnesses said.

Police and media reports said at least five people were hurt, including a prosecutor who was hospitalized with stab wounds.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla appealed for calm, saying the deaths of the three men had nothing to do with religion.

"It's a matter of law," he told reporters in the capital Jakarta. "If the people resent the law, we are doomed."

Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, were found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks on Muslims in May 2000 that left at least 70 people dead.

Human rights workers say the men's 2001 trial was a sham, and that while it was possible the men took part in some of the violence, they almost certainly were not the leaders.

The men were taken before the firing squad at 12:15 a.m. (2:15 p.m. EDT Thursday), said a senior police officer who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Family members later said they had received confirmation of the deaths.

Palu, where the executions took place, was largely calm, with thousands of police standing on street corners and guarding markets and churches. But violence flared in the Sulawesi villages of Tentena and Lage, where hundreds of Christians rampaged after learning of the deaths.

Thousands also rallied in the eastern province of East Nusatenggara, home to many Roman Catholics, blockading roads and setting fire to government buildings, including a courthouse and a prosecutor's office.

Some 200 prisoners escaped in the town of Atambua, and only 20 had been recaptured by mid-afternoon, deputy national police chief Lt. Gen. Adang Dorodjatun said, calling on the others to turn themselves in.

In carrying out the death sentence, Indonesia ignored an appeal last month by Pope Benedict XVI to spare the men. A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told the Italian news agency ANSA that news of the execution "was very sad and painful."

The European Union also criticized the executions; capital punishment is banned in the 25-member bloc.

"The presidency of the European Union has learned with disappointment that despite numerous expressions of concern by the EU to the Indonesian authorities, Indonesia has carried out executions in Central Sulawesi," said a statement issued Friday by Finland, which currently holds the EU presidency.

The case against the three had heightened tensions in the world's most populous Muslim nation and raised questions about the role religion played in punishing those allegedly behind the violence that swept Sulawesi province from 1998 to 2002, killing more than 1,000 people of both religions. Only a handful of Muslims were convicted, all for 15 years in prison or less.

The men told relatives and a priest during final prayers at their jail Thursday that they were innocent but ready to die.

Tibo's son, Robert, told Christian followers early Friday that his father "begged us not to be angry, not to seek revenge."

"He asked us to forgive those who did this to him. 'God blesses all of us,' he said.

The executions came amid an outcry in many Muslim nations about comments made by the pope on Islam. The pontiff last week cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman." He has since said he was "deeply sorry" about the reactions to his remarks and that they did not reflect his own opinions.

The condemned men had said they hoped investigations into the clashes would continue, noting that they had provided authorities with the names of 16 Christians who allegedly provoked some of the worst bloodshed.

The government says its probe is complete.

"It's useless for me to say anything now," said Tibo's son early Friday. "The government never listened to him when he was alive. They ignored everything."

Human rights activists said Muslim hardliners gathered at the court during the hearings, likely intimidating judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses.

"The men's lawyers received death threats, including a bomb planted at one lawyer's house and demonstrators armed with stones outside the courthouse demanded that the three be sentenced to death," said Isabelle Cartron of London-based Amnesty International.

Indonesia is a secular nation with the world's largest number of Muslims, about 190 million. In Sulawesi and several other eastern regions, Christian and Muslim populations are roughly equal.

Though violence in Sulawesi largely ended with the signing of a peace deal in 2002, there have been isolated incidents of violence since then, most blamed on Islamic militants.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

[marden]

BostonHerald.com - International News: Three Christian militants executed in Indonesia for attacks on Muslims

Three Christian militants executed in Indonesia for attacks on Muslims
By Associated Press
Friday, September 22, 2006 - Updated: 06:23 AM EST

[olePigeon]

Bush just had some 80-year-old woman deported because they found out she handled the dogs at a Nazi concentration camp. He stressed that past war crimes will never go unpunished no matter how long it takes.

I would imagine those people feal the same.

[Millennium]

So let me get this straight: these guys were the ringleaders of an attack that killed 200 people, and people are arguing that they shouldn't be executed?

OK, I could see someone who was categorically and absolutely opposed to the death penalty opposing their executions. Anyone who is that hardcore in their opposition to the death penalty is worthy of respect. But I'd suspect that a lot of death-penalty opponents should at the very least be feeling extremely uncomfortable about cases like this.

I mean, come on; 200 people in cold blood? You don't get much worse than that without being a head of state.

[itai195]

Most death penalty opponents would say that the magnitude of the crime has no effect on their opposition to capital punishment. Additionally, shouldn't killing just one person already be enough to suffer the worst penalty the state can inflict?

[Sky Captain]

I'm curious, how many Muslim ring leaders have been tried then executed for attacks?
Seriously?