Ruslan Sangadji
The Central Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office and local police will go ahead with the execution of three Christian death row inmates, found guilty of involvement in a series of murders in Poso several years ago, heedless of mounting demands for a stay of execution.
Despite the intensive preparations, however, the prosecutors and police declined to say when the execution of the three would be held.
"Just wait ... when the time comes you will know when they will be executed. For the sake of maintaining security, we are not allowed to give details about the timing (of the execution)," Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Rais D. Adam told The Jakarta Post.
The prosecutor's office recently ordered three caskets.
Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu are now on death row after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in December refused to grant them clemency, which was their last resort in the legal process.
Meanwhile, a group rights activists and religious leaders, including former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, have demanded a stay of execution, saying they believed the three were not the masterminds of the violence.
Gus Dur, also a former chairman of the nation's largest Islamic organization, demanded the establishment of an independent fact-finding team to uncover the truth behind the mass killings in Poso, including the masterminds.
Tibo, one of the convicts, said Thursday he was ready to be executed, even though he expressed concern as to why his life had to end in front of a firing squad. "I'm ready to accept the verdict, but why do I have to die this way?" he asked.
Tibo had previously given to the police the names of 16 other key people involved in the killings; all of whom are still living as free men in society.
Dominggus demanded that as soon as he was executed his body be sent to the President as "proof" that he and his two comrades were the victims of manipulation by other people in Poso.
"Me, Om (Uncle) Tibo and Marinus were not the masterminds of the violence. We were just provoked, so our roles were merely as victims. If justice is to be properly upheld, the intellectual actors behind the incidents have to be punished as well," he asserted.
The three transmigrants, originally from East Nusa Tenggara, were given death sentences by the Palu District Court in 2001. They were proven guilty for having been involved in the Muslim-Christian bloodletting between 2000 and 2001 in which more than 1,000 people were killed.
A peace deal was signed in December 2001, following talks facilitated by then welfare minister Jusuf Kalla.
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