[Kabar-indonesia] 10 Execution Updates: Thousands Pray [+Violence; Age; FT; NYT; Factbox]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

10 Execution Updates: 

- Political, church leaders condemn 
  execution of Indonesian Christians
- Thousands pray after execution of
  Indonesian Christians
- Indonesian Muslim leader says 
  executions legal issue, not linked 
  to religion
- FT: Indonesian Christians riot after
  executions
- NYT: Despite Plea, Indonesia 
  Executes 3 Christians 
  [previously sent]
- update: "Thousands" destroy 
  government offices in east 
  Indonesia after executions
- The Age: Executions raise fears 
  for Bali 9
- Factbox - Capital Punishment 
  in Indonesia
- update: The Australian: Crowds 
  riot over execution of three 
  Christians
- Transcript: Poso three executed 
  in Indonesia [incl. Interview with 
  Bali bombers lawyer]

Political, church leaders condemn 
execution of Indonesian Christians

PARIS, September 22 (AFP) -- Political and religious leaders joined
human rights groups in voicing anger and regret over the execution on
Friday of three Indonesian Christians for inciting violence against
Muslims.

The three men were shot by a police firing squad in the
religiously-divided Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi province,
following what several rights watchdogs insisted was a flawed trial.

Pope Benedict XVI had appealed for clemency for the three Roman
Catholics, and Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi described their
execution as a "defeat for humanity".

"It is very sad and painful news," Lombardi said.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi "strongly condemned" the
executions and specifically criticised the "inflexible stance" of
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, to whom Prodi had made
personal appeals at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Finnish presidency of the European Union expressed its deep
"regret" that the death sentence had been carried out, while the
European Commission in Brussels lamented that Indonesia had taken "a
regrettable step backwards" despite global requests for clemency.

In a statement, the commission urged Jakarta to re-introduce a
moratorium on executions -- suspended in 2004 -- and to commute all
death sentences with a view to "joining the ever-growing community of
abolitionist countries".

Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marianus Riwu were shot by
firing squad at 1:45 am local time (1745 GMT Thursday), having been
convicted of masterminding some of the deadly Christian-Muslim unrest
that rocked Central Sulawesi in 2000-01 and claimed more than 1,000
lives.

Human rights groups had lodged concerns over their trial, citing
reports of defence witness testimony being ignored by the court as
well as the intimidation of the men's lawyers, who endured death
threats and a bomb being planted at one of their homes.

"We are deeply disappointed that despite the debate on the death
penalty that the case had sparked across Indonesia, the state went
ahead and killed these three men," Amnesty's International's Southeast
Asia researcher Isabelle Cartron said Friday.

"Such state-sanctioned killings are all the more unacceptable where,
as in this case, there have been serious doubts about the fairness of
the trials," she told AFP.

Some observers suggested the capital case may have been politically
linked to that of three Islamic militants on death row in Indonesia
for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200
people.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a British group campaigning against
Christian persecution, said Friday it was "deeply saddened" by the
executions.

"We urge the Indonesian authorities to act with wisdom to restore
peace following these executions and we call on them to act fairly and
promote justice for those still detained following the violence in
2000," said a spokeswoman for the group, Alexa Papadouris.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thousands pray after execution of Indonesian Christians

PALU, Indonesia, September 22 (AFP) -- Thousands of Indonesians 
packed a church in Central Sulawesi Friday to pray for three executed
Christians amid escalating religious tensions in the world's most
populous Muslim nation.

Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marianus Riwu were shot by
police firing squad in religiously-divided Central Sulawesi province
overnight, triggering condemnation from the Vatican and international
rights groups.

Some 2,000 worshippers attended mass at the main Catholic church in
the provincial capital of Palu to honour the three men, while hundreds
of angry protesters rampaged in eastern Indonesia, throwing rocks and
looting shops.

The farmers had requested that their bodies be present at a mass after
their deaths but authorities turned them down, so mourners in Palu
placed mock coffins in the church.

The body of da Silva was buried just hours after the execution at a
cemetery outside Palu, his dirt grave marked with a simple white board
bearing his name written in black.

The bodies of the other two men were transported by plane and
ambulance to their hometown of Beteleme, where preparations for a
burial were underway, the state Antara news agency reported.

In the town of Atambua in Christian-dominated East Nusa Tenggara
province, tensions exploded as hundreds of angry rock-throwing
sympathisers looted stores and torching an official's home, reports
said.

The mobs smashed windows and furniture at the state prosecutor's
office before heading to the residence of the chief prosecutor, which
they set alight, the Detikcom news agency reported.

A policeman told Elshinta radio that the police chief, bishop and
other religious leaders had headed to the streets to urge calm and
clear road blocks set up by the executed men's sympathisers.

"Now around 1,000 people have been directed to a field to listen to
the bishop," Dedy Warata said.

"There have been casualties but it is still unclear how many and what
their conditions are," he said, adding that several police posts had
been damaged by the mob and some shops damaged and looted.

Police contacted there declined to immediately comment.

The executed trio were born on Flores Island, a part of the province.

The men were initially scheduled to be shot in August, but authorities
granted a last-minute reprieve shortly after Pope Benedict XVI issued
a plea for clemency, though a link was denied.

Police in Palu had yet to make a formal statement about the precise
timings and locations of the executions, details they typically reveal
only hours after an autopsy of the deceased has taken place.

After the executions, spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Vatican was
saddened by the "painful" news, calling capital punishment a "defeat
for humanity".

Amnesty International said it was "deeply disappointed that despite
the debate on the death penalty that the case had sparked across
Indonesia, the state went ahead and killed these three men."

The case of the trio has raised fears of sectarian violence flaring
again in Central Sulawesi, where more than 1,000 people lost their
lives in 2000-01 in clashes between Muslims and Christians. People
adhering to the two faiths live in roughly equal numbers in the
province.

Tibo, da Silva and Riwu were convicted of leading a Christian militia
that carried out some of the grisly attacks against Muslims in the
province, but they categorically denied they were the masterminds
behind the unrest.

The case of the three poor farmers drew international concern from
rights activists, who criticised the fairness of their trial and saw
the men as scapegoats targetted while few others were convicted over
the violence and those most responsible are still on the run.

More than 4,000 security forces had fanned out across the province in
the past two days in anticipation of the executions.

Christian leaders have urged their faithful to stay calm and refrain
from any violence.

----------------------------------

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
September 22, 2006
Source: Detikcom website, Jakarta,
in Indonesian 22 Sep 06

Indonesian Muslim leader says executions 
legal issue, not linked to religion

Jakarta: In the early hours of Friday morning (22 September), Tibo and
co were executed. A riot subsequently erupted in Atambua, East Nusa
Tenggara. Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin appealed to everyone not
to link the issue of the death sentence with religion because it was
purely a matter of law.

"There is nothing else to do but to respect the decision of the
court," said Din. He was speaking during a break in a Muhammadiyah
Public Policy and Insight Institute seminar and workshop in the Hotel
Harris on Jalan Sahardjo, South Jakarta today (22 September).

Din also said that the death penalty should not be taken out of
Indonesia's Criminal Law Code just because of the Tibo case. "I
totally agree with the death penalty because it accords with the laws
of Islam," he said.

He also nodded his approval for the death penalty to be handed down to
perpetrators of major crimes, such as murder, narcotics, corruption
and terrorism. "It will be an effective deterrent for perpetrators of
crime against the public. It will also provide a feeling of security
for the people of Indonesia" he said. [Passage omitted -previously
reported execution of Tibo]

-----------------------------------

Financial Times (UK)
September 22, 2006

Indonesian Christians riot after executions

By Shawn Donnan in Jakarta

Christian mobs attacked police posts and other government symbols in
at least two Indonesian districts Friday after the early-morning
execution of three Christian militants convicted of leading
six-year-old attacks in which at least 70 Muslims died.

Authorities said the thousands who took to the streets in central
Sulawesi and the West Timor town of Atambua had largely dispersed by
late afternoon. But the violence highlights lingering tensions between
Christian minorities and Muslim communities in some parts of the
world's largest Muslim nation.

The three Catholics were convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 at
the tail-end of three years of communal violence in the central
Sulawesi district of Poso where an uneasy peace between Christian and
Muslim communities has largely survived in recent years.

Human rights groups had raised questions about the fairness of their
trial. Christian communities in Indonesia have also been outraged by
the lighter sentences given to Muslim militants convicted of killing
Christians during the Poso conflict.

In recent weeks officials have also said they wanted to push through
the executions of the Christians in order to be able to mete out the
death sentences handed to three Muslim militants convicted of playing
key roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, which left more than 200 dead.

Some 90 per cent of Indonesia's 220m people are registered Muslims.
The archipelago also houses an increasingly vocal - and at times
violent - radical Islamist minority. As a result any move to carry out
the death sentences against the Bali bombers is considered sensitive.

Indonesia's vice president, Jusuf Kalla, appealed for calm Friday,
insisting the firing-squad executions of the three Christian men -
Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42 - had
nothing to do with religion or ethnicity. "It's a matter of law," said
Mr Kalla. "If the people resent the law, we are doomed."

The European Union, which opposes the death penalty, in a statement
said it was disappointed that after "numerous expressions of concern"
to Jakarta over the impending executions Indonesian authorities had
nonetheless decided to proceed.

A European diplomat in Jakarta said the EU had sent a letter to
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday to appeal for an
indefinite moratorium on executions.

But he said the EU concerns were driven by worries over the growing
number of people on death row and seemingly imminent executions in
Indonesia rather than the specific case of the three Christian
militants.

The diplomat said he also had personal concerns over the logic used by
some Indonesian officials to justify the Christians' executions as
necessary to clear the way for the Bali bombers' own appearance before
a firing squad. "It's horrifying to think that in order to take out
the three Bali bombers you have to take out the three Christians. It's
an awful way of arguing," the diplomat said.

A spokesman for Indonesia's Attorney General said a date had not yet
been set for the execution of the three Bali bombers.

A lawyer for the three said Friday they planned to lodge a last-ditch
legal appeal in coming weeks based on a challenge of Indonesia's use
of firing squads. The method amounts to torture because it can take
several minutes for the condemned to die, the lawyer said.

"They are ready to be executed," lawyer Mahendratta told reporters.
"But they reject the idea of being tortured."

Additional reporting by Taufan Hidayat

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The New York Times
September 22, 2006

Despite Plea, Indonesia Executes 3 Christians

By RAYMOND BONNER

JAKARTA -- In the early morning hours on Friday, an Indonesian firing
squad executed three Christian men who had been convicted in
connection with the violence that has wracked the province of Central
Sulawesi. The government ignored a last-minute appeal from the
European Union to declare a moratorium on the death penalty.

No evidence directly linked any of the condemned to killings, but two
were found to be ringleaders of a Christian militia that killed 200
Muslims in 2000, and the third to have instructed Christians in the
use of arrows, according to trial observers.

The European Union appeal did not specifically mention the case of the
Christians. Its plea was aimed at halting all executions, including
those of three Bali bombers on death row for their role in the attacks
on nightclubs in 2002, which killed 202 people, European diplomats
said.

''The European Union, along with many other like-minded countries,
opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances,'' the
Finnish ambassador, Markko Niinioga, representing the presidency of
the European Union, said in a letter delivered Wednesday to the
Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. ''The E.U. finds this
punishment cruel and inhuman.''

The letter was read to The New York Times by a European diplomat, who
did so on the condition of anonymity because the letter had not been
released publicly. An aide to Mr. Yudhoyono confirmed that it had been
received. Mr. Yudhoyono is considered a leading contender for the
Nobel Peace Prize because of his work in bringing about an end to the
separatist war in Aceh Province, and European diplomats said that this
could hurt his chances.

About 80 men are on Indonesia's death row, all but a handful convicted
of murder or drug trafficking, according to a human rights group here,
the Committee for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence.

In its letter to Mr. Yudhoyono, the European Union wrote, ''Besides
respecting the value of human life,'' a moratorium would ''in our
opinion strengthen the international position and prestige of
Indonesia.''

After the executions, mobs burned cars and police stations in several
villages before security forces restored order, The Associated Press
reported, quoting Maj. Rudy Sufahriyadi, the police chief in Poso, the
Central Sulawesi town where the killings took place in May 2000.

The victims included more than 70 men, women and children who had
sought refuge in a school.

The three men who were executed Friday in the town of Palu were
Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42. .

At their 2001 trial, no one testified seeing any of them kill anyone,
Dave McRae, an expert in the Poso conflict at the Australian National
University, wrote in The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Even if they were
leaders, ''their death sentence is excessive,'' he wrote. More than
150 men have been tried in connection with the Poso violence, but no
other sentence has been more severe than 15 years in prison, Mr. McRae
wrote.

The executions of the three men had become entangled with the case of
the Bali bombers. In this overwhelmingly Muslim country, the
government considers that the risk of political protests would be too
great if it executed the Bali bombers and not the Christians.

''We're going to execute the Bali bombers,'' said a senior government
official, who was willing to discuss the government's plans and its
response to the European Union appeal only on the condition of
anonymity. The Bali bombers were scheduled to have been executed last
month, but the executions were postponed. They will not happen for at
least a month, until after Ramadan, which begins Sunday.

Many Indonesian political analysts and foreign diplomats doubt that
the men will be executed.

-------------------------------------------

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
September 22, 2006
Source: Tempo Interaktif website, Jakarta,
in Indonesian 22 Sep 06

"Thousands" destroy government offices 
in east Indonesia after executions

Tempo Interaktif, Jakarta: The situation in Atambua, Belu District,
East Nusa Tenggara Province, is getting increasingly tense. Thousands
of people continue to ransack and destroy several government offices
as an expression of protest against the execution of three Poso-case
death-row convicts, namely Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva, and
Marinus Riwu in Palu, Central Sulawesi, at 0140 local time this
morning.

Government offices that they had destroyed include the Belu Regional
Legislative Assembly building, gas stations, police offices, public
prosecutor's office, side-road restaurants while a car belonging to
the Atambua Public Prosecutor's Office was set fire.

Security personnel tried to disperse the angry rioters by firing tear
gas and rubber bullets. "One man was taken to the hospital after being
hit by a rubber bullet," said a police officer named Johannes.

The mobs, estimated at about 5,000 people, came from different
villages to Atambua. A hotel named King Star was also damaged but the
mobs' attempt to burn shops belonging to settlers and a place of
worship was foiled.

Atambua Bishop Antonius Painratu tried to pacify the mobs but failed.
"The mobs' anger could not be stopped," said Painratu. Belu district
chief Yoakim Lopez and chief of Belu police force Heb Dehen were also
seen trying to calm down the people.

About 2,000 people held a memorial service for Tibo and his friends,
who were executed earlier, at the St Theresa church in Kefamenanu,
North Timor district. After the memorial service, they blocked the
road and burned old tires near Naesleu.

--------------------------------------------

The Age (Melbourne)
Saturday, September 29, 2006

Executions raise fears for Bali 9

Mark Forbes, Jakarta, with Agencies

Christians riot after activists' deaths

INDONESIAN firing squads have carried out executions of three
Christian activists, ignoring international pleas to abandon capital
punishment.

The three were shot on the darkened runway of Palau Airport in Central
Sulawesi province early yesterday morning.

Amnesty International condemned the executions and expressed fears for
the six Australian members of the Bali nine and others on death row in
Indonesia. It called on the Australian Government to take a
"leadership role" in abolishing death penalties across the region.

Christian mobs rioted after the executions of Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus
da Silva and Marinus Riwu, torching cars, homes and smashing windows
in government offices. Church leaders have called for calm and 4000
police have been deployed in an attempt to head off clashes with
Muslim communities.

The executions, the first in Indonesia for more than 15 months,
indicate that the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remains
committed to enforcing death sentences.

Many commentators claim the executions also open the way for the
execution of the three Islamic fundamentalist Bali bombers - Amrozi,
Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron - to proceed.

Authorities in Sulawesi fear the executions will re-ignite a simmering
religious conflict.

The three men were convicted in connection with the killings of more
than 70 people who had sought refuge in a school in the central
Sulawesi town of Poso in May 2000. At their trial, no witnesses
testified seeing any of them kill anyone.

Strong doubts were raised about the fairness of their trial and there
were allegations that the sentences were driven by pressure from
hardline Muslim groups.

Human rights and church groups opposed the executions and the Pope
pleaded for the men to be spared. The European Union made a
last-minute appeal for Indonesia to impose a moratorium on the death
penalty, describing the practice as "cruel and inhumane".

Amnesty International said it was "deeply disappointed that despite
the debate on the death penalty that the case had sparked across
Indonesia, the state went ahead and killed these three men".

"Australia's traditionally strong position on the death penalty has
been undermined in recent years by the Australian Government's double
standard," Amnesty spokesman Tim Goodwin said.

"Amnesty International is calling on the Australian Government to take
a consistent and principled stance against the death penalty in all
cases and regardless of the nationality of the people facing
execution."

International Crisis Group director Sidney Jones said the executions
had been widely linked to allowing the executions of the Bali bombers
to go ahead without a Muslim backlash.

But a larger factor in the pressure to execute, Ms Jones said, was the
"naive belief that if these three Christians were executed it would
address the demands of Muslims in Poso for justice".

The executions would make it politically easier to carry out the
bombers' executions, she said, although it was unclear if Muslim
groups would oppose them.

It was difficult to gauge if they would have a direct effect on the
cases of the Australians on death row, Ms Jones said.

Indonesia executed two people for murder in 2005. Following the
execution of two men in May 2001, there was a de facto moratorium on
the death penalty in Indonesia until 2004.

------------------------------

Factbox - Capital Punishment in Indonesia

September 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia executed three Christian militants
on Friday for leading a mob that killed Muslims during inter-religious
violence in 2000.

Three Islamic radicals face the same penalty in the weeks ahead over
bombings in 2002 on the tourist island of Bali, and six Australians
are on death row for drug smuggling on that island.

Indonesia's government keeps statistics on executions secret. Before
Friday's executions, the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor had said the
number of people executed in the past decade may be around 10.

The last known execution was that of a woman in East Java in March
2005 convicted for multiple murder and mutilation.

Here are details of the Indonesian execution process:

- LEGAL BASIS

The 1964 law on death penalty executions stipulates a convict should
be shot to death via a rigid procedure.

- EXECUTIONERS

A police squad consisting of one commanding officer, one
non-commissioned officer, and 12 enlisted policemen who act as the
main shooters.

- LOCATION

The law says executions must be done out of the public eye. Many take
place in the prison where the convict is housed but some have been in
less traditional locations including a forest and a golf course.
Friday's executions were near an airport.

- PROCEDURE

The convict is blindfolded and the firing squad stands in a line 5-10
metres (16-33 ft) away. The squad fire at the target's heart when the
commanding officer gives a signal, usually with a sword. Sources
familiar with the process say only a few guns are loaded with live
bullets so squad members will not know whose weapon killed the target.

- CRIMES LEADING TO EXECUTION

Treason and other politically driven acts against the state.

Crimes that lead to loss of life including premeditated murder, deadly
burglary and violent piracy.

Illegal possession of weapons.

Since laws on narcotics were passed in 1997, the bulk of the death
sentences have been for convicted drug smugglers.

In the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, any use of violence or threat
of violence which creates a widespread atmosphere of terror or mass
casualties can lead to the death sentence. Besides perpetrators,
plotters and accomplices of those attacks also could receive capital
punishment.

- FOREIGNERS ON DEATH ROW

Some 20 non-Indonesians are awaiting execution, mostly for drug
offences. Most come from Africa, but this year six Australians have
been sentenced to death over a heroin smuggling operation.

The most recent foreigners to be executed were two convicted Thai drug
dealers who were on death row for eight years.

SOURCES: Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, Amnesty International

---------------------------------

Australia Broadcasting Corporation
September 22, 2006
-transcript-

Poso three executed in Indonesia

Reporter: Geoff Thompson

ELEANOR HALL: Indonesian authorities are preparing for the possibility
of further religious unrest in Sulawesi in response to the execution
of three Christian farmers.

The farmers were convicted of leading militia attacks against Muslims
during sectarian violence in the province, which killed a thousand
people six years ago.

A lawyer for the Bali bombers on death row says this execution now
makes it more likely that his clients will soon face the firing squad.
And for the six Australians who have been sentenced to death for drug
trafficking, the executions suggest that the Indonesian President
Susilo Bangbang Yudhoyono may be unwilling to listen to their pleas
for clemency.

This report from the ABC's Indonesia Correspondent Geoff Thompson.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Just after midnight at an undisclosed location in
central Sulawesi, three Christian farmers, Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da
Silva and Marianus Riwu were led before a firing squad and shot. The
trio known as the Poso Three, were convicted of leading Christian
militias, which took part in sectarian violence, which left more than
1000 people dead in 2000 and 2001.

The poor farmers have admitted taking part in the violence, but have
always denied being the masterminds. Critics have called them
scapegoats and called for an investigation into 16 other participants
the men have named.

The so-called Tibo executions have also been widely perceived here as
being necessary in order to make the executions acceptable, of Amrozi,
Ali Ghufron, and Imam Samudra, the three Muslim members of Jemaah
Islamiah, now on death row for 2002's Bali bombings, which killed 202
people, including 88 Australians.

Wirawan Adnan is Amrozi's lawyer.

WIRAWAN ADNAN: The primary target is to execute Amrozi, because Amrozi
is not the next on the list, they have to do these people first.
Initially they do not have any plans to execute people in the near
future, because people is on the list, Amrozi should not be executed
first, because of the list, of the death list, of the execution list,
people have to be executed first. Now, Amrozi execution becomes
eminent, becomes real.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The executions also confirm the unwillingness of
Indonesia's President Susilo Bangbang Yudhoyono to listen to pleas of
clemency for those on death row.

Usman Hamid from the anti-death penalty human rights group Kontras:

USMAN HAMID: It seems to many people that the Government would like to
find a justification for the executions of the Bali bombers by doing
executions first to Tibo and friends, and in this regard I think the
Government simply worry about losing its credibility by postponing, by
cancelling the executions of Tibo and Bali bombers.

GEOFF THOMPSON: In effect the executions also move the six members of
the Bali Nine now of death row in Indonesia further up the cue to a
date with a firing squad.

Wirawan Adnan again.

WIRAWAN ADNAN: I believe there if no interference from the Australian
Government, they will be executed. But it's not going to be in the
near future. They still have rights for judicial review, for
Presidential pardon, which they have not used. You know, politically
speaking, it does have something to do with Yudhoyono. So, he is
prepared, I don't know if he has the courage to do it, but he is
prepared to do it.

ELEANOR HALL: And that's Wirawan Adnan, the lawyer for Bali bomber
Amrozi, ending that report by our Indonesia Correspondent Geoff
Thompson.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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