3 INDONESIAN CHRISTIANS EXECUTED - Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva & Marinus Riwu; Same FATE for 3 Islamic Bali BOMBERS & 6 Australian “Bali NINE”?

ABOVE:The Protest to Free them all in vain for the executed

Update: Sept 26 06

Executed Indonesians denied the Last Rites

The three Indonesian Christians who were on death row accused of inciting violence against Muslims in 2000, and who were executed by firing squad on the night of 22 September 2006, were denied the last rites – reports Dan Bergin on Independent Catholic News.

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva had repeatedly denied any involvement in the riots. Many church and human rights groups campaigned for the men's reprieve and a reopening of the case. The execution was delayed in August 2006 after an appeal from Pope Benedict.

Before the execution, the three men were not allowed to see a priest and receive the Sacraments. Father Tumbelaka, parish priest at Poso's Saint Therese Parish church who had been visiting them, was refused access to them by the Prosecutors Officers.

The Office has also denied the church permission to take the bodies to a chapel of rest in Palu St Mary's Cathedral as they had requested.

"I am deeply disappointed that the Prosecutor's Office rejected their demand to be confessed and receive the Sacraments one last time," he said.

The decision violates Indonesian law which grants death row convicts the right to have their last wishes granted.

Father Tumbelaka has celebrated Mass for the men's families.

"There are no more tears in our family . . . we have lost the power to cry," said Robert Tibo, Fabianus's eldest son. In his last public statement, Robert's father, Fabianus, said he was "not afraid of dying." Instead, he said: "I am praying that my family be able to provide for themselves and forgive me for not being with them all these years."

Previously known as Celebes, Sulawesi is Indonesia's fourth largest island. 80 per cent of residents are Muslim, while 17 per cent are Christian.

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Despite protests and appeals, the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono allowed the executions of the 3 Christians. Now the question remains will those on the death row face the same music if the death sentences are to be enforced.

The violent past started in December 1998 brawl in Poso led to months of religious violence in which hundreds died. Previously known as Celebes, Sulawesi is Indonesia's fourth largest island80% of residents are Muslim, while 17% are Christian.

But when you kill a man, you believe that you kill him forever? The hunter is forced to emotionally identify with its prey. So to kill is to be killed. The balance of life sustains all.

There is never any justification for violence. There is no justification for hatred. There is no justification for murder. Those who indulge in violence for whatever reason are themselves changed, and the purity of their purpose adultered.

Hate creates destruction on earth and until the lessons are learned, destruction follows destruction. In the terms of other systems, that kind of destruction does not exist - but we believe that it does, and the agonies of dying are sorely felt everywhere.

It is not that we must be taught not to destroy, for destruction does not actually exist. It is that we must be trained to create responsibly.

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Mobs riot after Indonesia executes Christians
Mark Forbes Herald correspondent in Jakarta, and agencies

INDONESIAN firing squads executed three Christian activists yesterday, ignoring international pleas to abandon capital punishment. The three were shot on the darkened runway of Palau Airport in Central Sulawesi province in the early hours of the morning.

Amnesty International condemned the executions and expressed grave fears for the six Australian members of the Bali Nine and others on death row in Indonesia. It called on the Australian Government to take a leadership role to abolish death penalties across the region.
ABOVE; The executed three with their lawyer during the trial

Christian mobs rioted after the executions of Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu, torching cars and homes and smashing windows in government offices. Church leaders took to the streets to call for calm and 4000 police were deployed to prevent clashes with Muslim communities.

The executions, the first carried out in Indonesia for more than 15 months, indicate the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remains committed to enforcing death sentences. Many commentators claim the three Christian executions open the way for the executions of the three Islamic fundamentalist Bali bombers, Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron.

Authorities in Sulawesi fear the executions will reignite a simmering religious conflict which took more than 1000 lives in 1999 and 2000. The three Christians were convicted in connection with the killing of more than 70 men, women and children who had sought refuge in a school in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso in May 2000. At their trial, no witnesses testified to seeing any of them kill anyone. Strong doubts were raised about the fairness of their trial and there were allegations the sentences were driven by pressure from hardliner Muslim groups.

Human rights and church groups opposed the executions and the Pope had pleaded for the men to be spared. The European Union had made a last-minute appeal for Indonesia to impose a moratorium on the death penalty, describing the practice as "cruel and inhumane". 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 executions raised strong fears for the fate of all those awaiting execution in Indonesia, an Amnesty spokesman, Tim Goodwin, said.

"Australia's traditionally strong position on the death penalty has been undermined in recent years by the Australian Government's double standard. "Amnesty International is calling on the Australian Government to take a consistent and principled stance against the death penalty in all cases and regardless of the nationality of the people facing execution."

The director of the International Crisis Group, Sidney Jones, said the executions of the three Christians had been widely linked to allowing the executions of the Bali bombers to go ahead without provoking a Muslim backlash. However, Ms Jones said a larger factor in the pressure to execute was "naive belief that if these three Christians were executed it would address the demands of Muslims in Poso for justice". The executions would make the bombers' executions easier to carry out politically, she said, although it was unclear if Muslim groups would oppose the sentences. It was difficult to gauge whether they would have a direct effect on the cases of the Australians on death row, Ms Jones said.

Indonesia executed two people for murder in 2005, a woman and a man. Following the execution of two men in May 2001, there was a de factooratorium on the death penalty in Indonesia until 2004. Before 2001, there had been no executions in the country for six years. More than 60 people are on death row in Indonesia, including the six Australians sentenced to death for their role in the Bali Nine heroin smuggling scheme.

ABOVE:The mourners praying for the three executed

Indonesia to execute militants ; Last Updated: Friday, 22 September 2006,

08:54 GMT 09:54 UK, BBC

Three Indonesian Christian militants sentenced to death for attacks on Muslims in 2000 are due to be executed on Thursday or Friday, lawyers said.

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva had been set to face the firing squad last month but won a reprieve after a papal appeal. The men were found guilty of inciting attacks during religious rioting in Central Sulawesi in 2000.

Their supporters and rights groups have questioned the trial's fairness. Some 4,000 extra troops have been deployed in religiously-divided Sulawesi amid fears the executions could spark further violence. "If there are unwanted actions, or actions tending toward anarchy, police will not hesitate to take repressive action," Central Sulawesi police chief Badroddin Haiti said.

Gang violence

Lawyers for the three men said provincial prosecutors delivered a letter saying the executions would take place on Thursday 21 September, though one report said it could take place on Friday.

Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh told reporters the letter, delivered late on Monday, said the men would be shot in 72 hours time. The men say they are innocent of the charges that they masterminded a series of attacks on the Muslim community in the Central Sulawesi district of Poso in 2000, killing at least 70 people.

The attack was part of a wave of violence that left more than 1,000 people killed. It was triggered by a brawl between Christian and Muslim gangs in December 1998. The men's execution was delayed last month after a plea for clemency from Pope Benedict XVI and demonstrations by thousands of Indonesian Christians.

Three Muslim militants are also currently on death row for their part in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

Catholic World News sums up:

The lawyers for three Catholics on Indonesia's death row will take their case before the International Criminal Court in Geneva, the AsiaNews service reports.

Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwa were condemned to death because they were found guilty of masterminding a massacre of 200 Muslims in Poso during inter-faith clashes in 2000. Their case has drawn international attention, with both Christian leaders and human-rights activists protesting that the court convicted them under heavy pressure from Islamic militants.

Originally the three men were scheduled to die on August 12. Their execution was postponed, but rumors now circulating in Indonesia suggest that it could be rescheduled soon.

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