oz457
22 september 2006, 01:46
Indonesia executes Christians
Jakarta (dpa) - An Indonesian firing squad Friday in Central Sulawesi executed three Christian men convicted of killing dozens of Muslims during religious violence six years ago in the province, despite international appeals for clemency.
The condemned Christians, Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marianus Riwu, 48, and Domingus da Silva, 42, were executed shortly after midnight at an undisclosed location, the earliest moment that their sentences of capital punishment could be carried out, the state-run Antara news agency reported.
The men had been found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks on Muslims in May 2000 in Poso district, including a gun-and-machete assault in which at least 70 people taking refugee in an Islamic school were killed.
The massacre was one of the bloodiest incidents in sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims that swept through previously harmonious central Sulawesi from 1998 to 2002, leaving more than 1,000 people from both communities dead and tens of thousands homeless.
The convicted men maintained their innocence. They said prosecutors refused to investigate 16 people including military, intelligence and government officials, implicated by one of the defendants as the masterminds of the conflict.
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Ze zijn toch zo verdraagzaam, mijnheer, die moslims....
Jakarta (dpa) - An Indonesian firing squad Friday in Central Sulawesi executed three Christian men convicted of killing dozens of Muslims during religious violence six years ago in the province, despite international appeals for clemency.
The condemned Christians, Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marianus Riwu, 48, and Domingus da Silva, 42, were executed shortly after midnight at an undisclosed location, the earliest moment that their sentences of capital punishment could be carried out, the state-run Antara news agency reported.
The men had been found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks on Muslims in May 2000 in Poso district, including a gun-and-machete assault in which at least 70 people taking refugee in an Islamic school were killed.
The massacre was one of the bloodiest incidents in sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims that swept through previously harmonious central Sulawesi from 1998 to 2002, leaving more than 1,000 people from both communities dead and tens of thousands homeless.
The convicted men maintained their innocence. They said prosecutors refused to investigate 16 people including military, intelligence and government officials, implicated by one of the defendants as the masterminds of the conflict.
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Ze zijn toch zo verdraagzaam, mijnheer, die moslims....