Executions of Christians spark riots
September 22, 2006 03:22pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
HUNDREDS of Indonesians angered by the overnight executions of three Christians rioted in eastern Indonesia today, looting, throwing rocks and torching an official's home.
The violence broke out after Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marianus Riwu were shot by a police firing squad in the religiously-divided Central Sulawesi province overnight.
The executions drew condemnation from the Vatican and international rights groups.
In the provincial capital of Palu, some 2000 Christians attended mass at the main Catholic church to honour the three men, amid escalating religious tensions in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Mock coffins were placed inside the church after authorities turned down requests for the men's bodies to be present.
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.
The bodies of the other two 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 torched 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 to clear road blocks set up by the executed men's sympathisers.
"Now around 1000 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 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 1000 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, while few others were convicted over the violence and those most responsible were still on the run.
More than 4000 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.
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