Western Resistance

« Somalia: Islamists Carry Out First Public Execution Since Gaining Power | | Turkey: A Model Of A Muslim State? »

September 22, 2006

Indonesia: Christians Riot, Loot Muslim Shops After Executions

Left to right - Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, Dominggus da Silva, 42

We reported yesterday that three Catholics were executed yesterday, after being given a death sentence in April 2001 for inciting murders of Muslims in Poso in Central Sulawesi in May 2000. The trial did not hear evidence from crucial witnesses, and it is believed that a large crowd of angry Muslims demanding death sentences had influenced the decision of the Palu courthouse judges.

The three men, Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, had all of their last requests refused. They were not allowed to attend mass before they died, they were not allowed to have their bodies lyingin state for 24 hours at St Mary's cathedral in Palu, nor were they allowed to have chosen priests present at their deaths. Their request to convey a message to the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had repeatedly refused to commute their death sentences, was also denied.

Before the executions, there had been widespread anger in the Christian communities in Central Sulawesi and also in the adjoining maritime province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the men had lived. Many felt that the men had been victims of injustice. The killings in Central Sulawesi had numbered about 1,100, and had been part of a larger war in the Moluccas, which had been initiated by the Islamist Umar Jaffar Thalib and his militia, the Lashkar Jihad. The greater Moluccan war had cost the lives of 9,000 people. The vast majority of victims had been Christians, murdered by Muslims, both on Sulawesi island and other islands in the Molucccas. But the maximum sentence passed to any of the Muslims for the sectarian violence has been 15 years. Umar Jaffar Thalib, a former Afghanistan mujahideen, was acquitted on charges of "sowing discord".

So the news today that Christians went on the rampage should send a clear message to president Yudhoyono, who had ignored requests from US senators, the Pope, the European Union and human rights bodies to grant clemency.

The three men were not shot in the grounds of the prison where they were held, as is normal procedure. They had been taken to a runway of Palu airport, and shot there. The executions had been the first in 15 months.

Sidney Jones, the East Asia director of the International Crisis Group said that the executions of the three Christians had been tied by the authorities to the executions of the three Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists who had been involved with the bombings on Bali in October 2002, which had killed 202 people, including 88 Australian and 25 British tourists. The three men, 36-year old Imam Samudra, 43-year old Amrozi and Amrozi's brother Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, aged 46, are currently held at Nusakambangan, an island prison, just off the southern coast of Java.

They had been transfered from a prison at Bali after rage from the Hindu community followed the second Bali bombings of October 1 last year. Today, according to the BBC, Samudra, Mukhlas and Amrozi requested that they be beheaded, rather than shot by firing squad.

Finland, which holds the EU presidency, released a statement today on the executions of the three Christians, which read: "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".

The news on the Christian riots is carried by literally hundreds of sources, but I list here the Times, the Jakarta Post, AKI, Sydney Morning Herald, UPI International, Nine MSN, Deitsche Presse Agentur via the Bangkok Post, Catholic Online, Spero, the BBC and Associated Press via ABC News and Canada Post.

Palu city itself, where services for the men were held, was solemn and quiet, an eye in the storm which surrounded it. At the St Mary's Cathedral, where the three executed men had asked to be laid in state, mock coffins were placed by sympathisers, in honour of the men's denied wishes. Bishop Joseph Suwatan had earlier called for the Christian community to remain calm, a call that appeared to have been heeded.

On Flores, the island in East Nusa Tenggara province, the island where two of the three men had been born, Christians waving machetes ran through streets, causing women and children to flee the scene.

In Atambua on East Timor in the same province, where Dominggus da Silva had lived, the prosecutor's office, where Christians had prayed yesterday, was besieged. Its windows were smashed, and furniture destroyed. The home of the head official from the prosecutor's office, which adjoins the building, was set on fire. His car was also set alight.

Later, a mob of Christians turned their attention to the Atambua Prison, and successfully stormed the building, releasing 190 prisoners. Only twenty or so of the escaped prisoners were later recaptured by the afternoon. Deputy national police chief Lt. Gen. Adang Dorodjatun called on the other prisoners to turn themselves in.

Dorodjatun claimed that the protesters were directing their anger at the Indonesian authorities, rather than at Muslims. Other officials feared that the rioting could trigger a resurgence of the earlier violence associated with the Lashkar Jihad's "jihad" and Christian responses to the massacres.

Also in East Nusa Tenggara province, other government buildings were set on fire, including a courthouse.

This province, unlike the remainder of Indonesia, has a majority of Christians. In Poso and neighbouring parts of Central Sulawesi, where the events for which the three Catholics were blamed took place, the population is evenly split between Christians and Muslims.

In Poso district, DPA reported that thousands of Christians took to the streets, looking for Muslim motorists. Police had to seal off the area. Tyres were burned on the street, and protesters threw rocks at policemen. One police officer was injured. By the end of the afternoon, the unrest in Poso had died down.

Muslim shops have been looted in West Timor, and so far there are reports of at least four casualties.

In Jakarta, the capital, the vice president of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, said: "We are concerned that the public misunderstood. The ... case is not a religious or ethnic issue but simply a legal one." Kalla had brokered a peace deal between Muslim and Christian factions in December 2001, in the South Sulawesi town of Malino.

Currently there are six Australians awaiting execution in Indonesia on charges of drug-smuggling. Dr Sidney Jones said she was unsure if the executions of Tibo, da SIlva and Riwu would have any bearing on these cases.

The BBC has a slideshow of images from the day's events, mostly focusing on the grieving relatives of the three executed men, here.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 22, 2006 5:16 PM

Comments

Posted by: patung at September 23, 2006 10:31 AM

Post a comment