Christians ignore call to forgive and riot following Indonesia executions

-23/09/06

Hun


Christians ignore call to forgive and riot following Indonesia executions

-23/09/06

Hundreds of Christians have rioted in Indonesia following the execution of three Christians in the country’s Sulawesi province, despite a call for ëforgivenessí rather than anger or revenge from a son of one of the dead men.

The protesters torched cars and looted Muslim shops. A mob also attacked a prison in West Timor, where 200 inmates have escaped. Some attacked the state prosecutor’s office and set alight the home of the chief prosecutor. Police posts and businesses have also been targeted. In addition, gangs torched government buildings in Central Sulawesi.

However, not all protests against the killings were violent. In Palu, 1,000 mourners packed into the local church for a vigil. During the ceremony, Tibo’s son told the crowd: “My father begged us not to be angry, not to seek revenge. He asked to forgive those who did this to him. ‘God blesses all of us,’ he said.”

The protests erupted shortly after the execution by firing squad of Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva in the early hours of yesterday morning (22 Sptember 2006) in the provincial capital of Palu.

On the largely Catholic island of Flores to the south of Sulawesi, youths wielding machetes chanted slogans and threatened residents before police dispersed them with warning shots. In Atambua, West Timor, where Silva came from, crowds broke into the local jail and freed about 200 prisoners.

The three executed men were found guilty of masterminding an attack on an Islamic boarding school in 2000 in the town of Poso that left 70 Muslims dead, but their conviction has been a consistent sore point between Christians and Muslims in a region known for its inter-religious violence.

The executions took place despite an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI and a host of religious and political leaders across the world to spare the men.

Christian groups in Indonesia have accused the government of using the men as scapegoats to placate the country’s majority Muslim population.

Although the government insists Tibo and his associates were given a fair trial, legal analysts and human rights workers noted that crowds of Muslim hard-liners gathered at the court during the hearings, likely intimidating judges, attorneys and witnesses. There were widespread calls for a re-trial.

Human rights groups also expressed concerns over Tibo, Riwu and Silva’s trial in 2001, arguing that a number of defence testimonies, including those of the defendants, were not allowed.

Kate Allen, of Amnesty International, condemned the Indonesian government’s decision to carry out the death sentence. “The executions of these men are a backwards step,” she said. “Such state-sanctioned killing is all the more unacceptable where there have been doubts about the fairness of the trial.”

Vice President Jusuf Kalla appealed for calm following the violence, which left at least five persons injured. He said the executions had nothing to do with religion.

“It’s a matter of the law. These killings were carried out according to our legal process,” he told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.

Church leaders have appealed for calm and have said that violence is not the Christian way. But there is widespread local anger against what are seen as political executions.

Although Indonesia is the world’s most populous Islamic nation, at least 15 per cent of the country’s 245 million inhabitants are not Muslims and violence between religious communities is not uncommon.

Violence between Muslims and Christians led to more than 1,000 deaths before a 2002 peace deal.

In the three years since the ceasefire, however, local rights groups have recorded more than 120 violations of the peace deal.

The three were born on the island of Flores in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, where there is a Christian majority. Atambua, on West Timor’s border with East Timor, is also within the province.

[Also on Ekklesia: Indonesia steps up military security as Christians face execution 21/09/06; Campaign continues for Indonesian Christians facing death; Indonesian Catholics face imminent execution; Retrial call for accused Indonesian Christians; Indonesia steps up military security as Christians face execution; Indonesian Muslims say violence is sin and heresy; Muslim cleric told to help imprisoned Christian in vision Christians remember dead after Indonesia bombings; Church congregation attacked in Indonesia; New bomb blast threat to Christians in Indonesia; Christian peacemaker released after help from Muslims; Indonesian Christians in fear after attacks and beheadings; BBC to examine beheadings of Christian schoolgirls; Arrests in Indonesian Muslim-Christian conflict zone; Protestant leader framed, says human rights group Jubilee Campaign]


Christians ignore call to forgive and riot following Indonesia executions

-23/09/06

Hundreds of Christians have rioted in Indonesia following the execution of three Christians in the country’s Sulawesi province, despite a call for ëforgivenessí rather than anger or revenge from a son of one of the dead men.

The protesters torched cars and looted Muslim shops. A mob also attacked a prison in West Timor, where 200 inmates have escaped. Some attacked the state prosecutor’s office and set alight the home of the chief prosecutor. Police posts and businesses have also been targeted. In addition, gangs torched government buildings in Central Sulawesi.

However, not all protests against the killings were violent. In Palu, 1,000 mourners packed into the local church for a vigil. During the ceremony, Tibo’s son told the crowd: “My father begged us not to be angry, not to seek revenge. He asked to forgive those who did this to him. ‘God blesses all of us,’ he said.”

The protests erupted shortly after the execution by firing squad of Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva in the early hours of yesterday morning (22 Sptember 2006) in the provincial capital of Palu.

On the largely Catholic island of Flores to the south of Sulawesi, youths wielding machetes chanted slogans and threatened residents before police dispersed them with warning shots. In Atambua, West Timor, where Silva came from, crowds broke into the local jail and freed about 200 prisoners.

The three executed men were found guilty of masterminding an attack on an Islamic boarding school in 2000 in the town of Poso that left 70 Muslims dead, but their conviction has been a consistent sore point between Christians and Muslims in a region known for its inter-religious violence.

The executions took place despite an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI and a host of religious and political leaders across the world to spare the men.

Christian groups in Indonesia have accused the government of using the men as scapegoats to placate the country’s majority Muslim population.

Although the government insists Tibo and his associates were given a fair trial, legal analysts and human rights workers noted that crowds of Muslim hard-liners gathered at the court during the hearings, likely intimidating judges, attorneys and witnesses. There were widespread calls for a re-trial.

Human rights groups also expressed concerns over Tibo, Riwu and Silva’s trial in 2001, arguing that a number of defence testimonies, including those of the defendants, were not allowed.

Kate Allen, of Amnesty International, condemned the Indonesian government’s decision to carry out the death sentence. “The executions of these men are a backwards step,” she said. “Such state-sanctioned killing is all the more unacceptable where there have been doubts about the fairness of the trial.”

Vice President Jusuf Kalla appealed for calm following the violence, which left at least five persons injured. He said the executions had nothing to do with religion.

“It’s a matter of the law. These killings were carried out according to our legal process,” he told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.

Church leaders have appealed for calm and have said that violence is not the Christian way. But there is widespread local anger against what are seen as political executions.

Although Indonesia is the world’s most populous Islamic nation, at least 15 per cent of the country’s 245 million inhabitants are not Muslims and violence between religious communities is not uncommon.

Violence between Muslims and Christians led to more than 1,000 deaths before a 2002 peace deal.

In the three years since the ceasefire, however, local rights groups have recorded more than 120 violations of the peace deal.

The three were born on the island of Flores in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, where there is a Christian majority. Atambua, on West Timor’s border with East Timor, is also within the province.

[Also on Ekklesia: Indonesia steps up military security as Christians face execution 21/09/06; Campaign continues for Indonesian Christians facing death; Indonesian Catholics face imminent execution; Retrial call for accused Indonesian Christians; Indonesia steps up military security as Christians face execution; Indonesian Muslims say violence is sin and heresy; Muslim cleric told to help imprisoned Christian in vision Christians remember dead after Indonesia bombings; Church congregation attacked in Indonesia; New bomb blast threat to Christians in Indonesia; Christian peacemaker released after help from Muslims; Indonesian Christians in fear after attacks and beheadings; BBC to examine beheadings of Christian schoolgirls; Arrests in Indonesian Muslim-Christian conflict zone; Protestant leader framed, says human rights group Jubilee Campaign]