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Catholic World News News Feature

Muslims demand death of convicted Indonesian Christians September 05, 2006

A mass demonstration virtually shut down the Indonesian city of Poso on September 4, with several thousand Muslims demanding the speedy execution of three Catholics convicted of inciting violence during the religious conflicts that bloodied the local Sulawesi province in 2000.

Fabianus Tibo, Domingus da Silva and Marinus Riwu were scheduled to face a firing squad on August 12, but their execution was postponed after pleas from Church leaders (including Pope Benedict XVI) and human-rights groups.

The government has not yet set a new date for the execution, and the protestors in Poso demanded that the court's sentence be carried out promptly "as required by law." The September 4 rally marked out a route from the city's largest mosque to the office of the local prosecutor, insisting on prompt execution.

The case of the 3 convicted Christians has drawn international attention, with both Church leaders and human-rights groups observing that their trial took place in an atmosphere tinged by threats of violence from militant Muslim groups. No Muslim has yet faced trial in connection with the religious clashes that left more than 2,000 people dead in Sulawesi between 1999 and 2001.

The fate of the three men became still more delicate because their execution was scheduled just two weeks before the death penalty was to be imposed on Muslim terrorists convicted of the bombing that killed over 200 people in Bali in October 2002. Those executions, too, have been postponed, with no new date set.

Christian activists in Indonesia continue to press for a re-opening of the trial of the three Christians on death row. The mass demonstration in Poso on Monday was a reminder that government authorities would face loud protests if they granted that request.

[For a more detailed report on Monday's demonstration see the AsiaNews web site.]