Poso executions delayed until after Aug. 17

Ruslan Sangadji
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta/Palu

The scheduled execution of three Catholics in Palu, Central Sulawesi, was postponed at the eleventh hour Friday, with National Police chief Gen. Sutanto announcing it would be held after Independence Day celebrations.

The execution by firing squad of Fabianus Tibo, 68, Marianus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 38, was due to be held at 12:15 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location. The men, who were convicted for their roles in the Poso sectarian violence in 2000, received their last rites Friday.

But Sutanto was quoted as saying by detikcom newsportal in Jakarta that the execution was postponed until Aug. 20 at the earliest.

"The consideration was Aug. 17. So after that it will be held," he said after a limited Cabinet meeting late Friday that also included chief security minister Widodo A.S., Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin and Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh.

Sutanto said the decision was based on consultation with the Central Sulawesi Police, local administration and prosecutor's office. However, he said it did not mean that the execution would be canceled.

"It's only a matter of the timing. The decision must be carried out, and those who are guilty must follow their sentence."

Security was tight Friday in Palu as thousands held a prayer vigil at the Gedung Juang building in the heart of the city to oppose the executions.

Pope Benedict XVI also appealed Friday to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to spare the lives of the men, AP reported. The appeal was sent via telegram by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state.

The appeal was sent to the President to "seek your intervention on humanitarian grounds ... in order that an act of clemency might be granted to these three Catholic citizens of your nation". It noted the Catholic church opposes the death penalty.

The EU also called on the government not to carry out the punishment, while Amnesty International has expressed concerns about reports indicating the men's 2001 trial did not meet international standards of fairness.

Two analysts said the government was under pressure from conservative Muslims to go through with the executions because it was trying to speed up the executions of three Muslim militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings.

"This is a kind of crude barter so that the government can been seen as being fair to both communities," George Aditjondro, an academic who has studied the causes of the Sulawesi conflict, told AP. "There is national politics behind this."

Thamrin Amal Tomagola, another expert on the conflict, said prosecutors presented strong evidence the men were involved in the bloodshed, including the massacre of Muslim men, women and children sheltering at a boarding school.

But he said the men, who were uneducated farmers, were not the ringleaders and killing them would mean the state was losing valuable witnesses in later prosecutions. "I am concerned they are being made the fall guys," he told AP.

In the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena, Christian protesters against the execution took local prosecutor Thomas and two of his staff hostage to highlight their demand.

In the North Sumatra city of Manado and East Nusa Tenggara cities of Kupang, Belu, East Flores, Maumere and Timor Tengah Utara, thousands of residents thronged the streets, staging peaceful protests or mass prayers.

In Maumere, Catholic leader Bishop Vinsensius Sensi Potokoa, as well as other religious and public figures, urged Yudhoyono to set the men free. "Tibo is not guilty. There's no other excuse but to drop the execution...," he said.