[Kabar-indonesia] 2, 000 Indonesians Protest Plan To Execute 3 Christians [+EU]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

3 updates: 

- Indonesia to execute Christian militants on Saturday

- 2,000 Indonesians Protest Plan To Execute 3 Christians

- EU Criticizes Indonesia Over Planned Executions

Indonesia to execute Christian militants on Saturday

JAKARTA, Aug. 10 (Reuters) - Three Indonesian Christians on death row for 
leading a mob that killed Muslims during inter-religious violence in Central 
Sulawesi province are to be executed on Saturday, the Attorney General's office 
said. 

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva will face a firing squad 
just after midnight on Friday at a secret location in the Central Sulawesi 
provincial capital of Palu, a spokesman for the Attorney General said. 

"There will be no delay unless there's a natural catastrophe," I Wayan Pasek 
Suartha told reporters. "The families of the convicts have been notified". 

A series of appeals from the three have been rejected by courts at all 
levels, twice at the Supreme Court, since they first received the death sentences in 
2001. Last year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected their petition 
for a pardon. 

Executions in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad and information on 
timing and location are secret with notification limited to next of kin. 

Last March, local and international Catholic groups asked Yudhoyono to 
reconsider his stance on the death sentences against the three men but there has 
been no indication he will intervene.      
 
Muslim-Christian clashes raged in Central Sulawesi's Poso region from late 
1998 to 2001, killing 2,000 people before a peace accord took effect. 

Three Islamic militants sentenced to death for their leading roles in the 
2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people also recently received 
notification that their executions had been set for this month. 

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam and most of 
those Muslims are moderates but Islamic militancy is rising through small but 
vocal radical groups. 

Some areas in Indonesia's east like Poso have roughly equal proportions of 
Muslims and Christians. 

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2,000 Indonesians Protest Plan To Execute 3 Christians

TENTENA, Indonesia, Aug. 10 (AP)--More than 2,000 Indonesian Christians 
rallied Thursday against a plan to execute three co-religionists found guilty of 
leading a series of attacks on Muslims in eastern Indonesia in 2000. 

Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu are scheduled to be 
executed Saturday for their role in inciting and carrying out attacks on Sulawesi 
during violence that that left some 1,000 dead from both faiths. 

The largest rally took place in the Christian-dominated town of Tentena on 
Sulawesi, where more than 2,000 people rallied and prayed together. Protests 
were also held in two towns on Flores island, the birthplace of the three men. 

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EU Criticizes Indonesia Over Planned Executions

BRUSSELS, Aug. 10 (AP)--The European Union criticized Indonesia on Thursday 
over the planned executions of three Christian militiamen who took part in 
religious clashes with Muslims six years ago. 

"News of the imminent execution of three Indonesian citizens, which is all 
the more serious in the light of the fragile equilibrium that exists between 
different ethnic and religious groups, cannot fail to cause concern to Europe," 
said Franco Frattini, vice-president of the European Commission. 

Capital punishment is banned in the European Union. 

The three men are scheduled to be put to death Saturday for their role in the 
sectarian bloodshed on the island of Sulawesi in 2000 in which 1,000 people 
died. The fighting was part of a larger war between Muslims and Christians in 
the neighboring Maluku archipelago in which up to 9,000 perished. 

Although clashes petered out by 2001, sporadic attacks on Christians have 
continued. These included the beheading last year of three Christian schoolgirls. 

"We must discourage the culture of death and promote reason, dialogue, 
reciprocity, understanding and, above all, respect for different societies and 
religions," Frattini said. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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