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October 9, 2006

Indonesia: Muslim Bodies Found - Christians Arrested

Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48 and Dominggus da Silva, 42, were three Christians who were convicted in April 2001 for their alleged roles in inciting the murder of Muslims in the district of Poso in Central Sulawesi province in May 2000. The trial has been condemned as judicially unsound, and also biased against the three, on account of their faith. The three were sentenced to death, even though Muslims accused of involvement in the sectarian violence in Central Sulawesi (in which more Christians than Muslims were killed) have only received jail sentences, and no death penalties.

The three Christians from East Nusa Tenggara province were executed by firing squad on September 21. Public anger from Christians in East Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi erupted into violence on the following day.

In Central Sulawesi, Christians erected roadblocks and tried to stop drivers whom they suspected of being Muslim. They also threw rocks at police.

Now, according to Channel News Asia, Jerusalem Post, Ynet News, the Jakarta Post and AFP via Borneo Bulletin, the bodies of two Muslims have been discovered, apparently murdered in the conflicts which happened on September 22, after the executions of the three Christians.

The two Muslims were fish-sellers, who had apparently been stopped at a roadblock on September 22 in Central Sulawesi, one of several roadblocks to have been erected by Christian protesters in the province. The men had been bludgeoned to death.

According to Central Sulawesi Police Chief, Brig. Gen. Badrudin Haiti, 14 Christians have been arrested in connection with the murder of the two Muslims. He said that the two victims had been interred in a shallow grave near the spot where they had been stopped.

Strangely, Haiti said that the men had been killed because they had not slowed down when approaching the roadblock, rather than mentioning the sectarian inter-faith violence.

Associated Press via the Jakarta Post states that police on Sulawesi "routinely deny killings or bombings specifically targeting Muslims or Christians are religiously motivated, out of a fear that doing so may trigger more violence."

The inter-faith violence in the region had taken place sporadically since Christmas 1998, but the majority of killings happened between 2000 and 2002. The killings in Central Sulawesi had numbered about 1,100, and had been part of a larger war in the Moluccas, which lasted from 1999 to 2002. This 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".

The interfaith violence has continued. Before the three Christians were executed, on September 6 and on September 9 two Christians (a 50 year old man and a 20 year old woman) were killed in bomb attacks in Poso.

In the early hours of October 1 there were bomb attacks, using primitive devices. The first of the three bombs went off outside a church in Poso. Later in the day, a Christian man was dragged from a bus in Poso by Muslim rioters, and stabbed. He survived the attack. The mob dispersed when police arrived.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 9, 2006 7:04 AM

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