The Jakarta Post, August 14, 2006
Poso executions a matter of time: Security minister
Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defying international pressure for clemency, the government is pressing ahead with its
plan to execute three Christians in Central Sulawesi.
"We are currently in the phase of executing the court ruling. The execution will still be
carried out," chief security minister Widodo Adi Sucipto said here Sunday
accompanied by National Police chief Gen. Sutanto and Attorney General Abdul
Rahman Saleh.
The date for the execution, Widodo added, would be set again after the government
addressed "technical matters".
The government decided Friday to delay the execution of the three Christians --
Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva and Marianus Riwu -- just hours before the three
were due die by firing squad on Saturday.
The men were sentenced to death for inciting a religious conflict in the town of Poso in
Central Sulawesi on May 23, 2000, in which 191 people died.
Widodo said the delay would hold until after the country celebrated Independence Day
on Aug. 17.
The stay of execution was announced after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
received a telegram Friday from Pope Benedict XVI asking him to spare the lives of
the Christian men.
Commenting on the telegram, Widodo said the government would abide by the law
that sentenced gross human rights violators to death.
It would follow due process in carrying out the execution and security concerns would
be addressed, he said.
Gen. Sutanto said the government was not looking for an excuse to delay the
execution and urged people not to make it an issue. "Anyone breaking the law must
be punished."
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Saturday foreign intervention had not
influenced the postponement of the execution.
"We postponed the executions but we did not cancel them because we are a
sovereign country," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
"There have been a lot of letters asking for a postponement including one from the
Vatican."
Amnesty International hailed Saturday the government's decision to grant a stay of
execution to the three.
"Amnesty International welcomes the recent stay of executions of Fabianus Tibo,
Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu and urges the Indonesian government to
immediately transform this act of clemency into the commutation of their death
sentences," it told AFP.
"The organization also calls on the authorities to review their trial, which was
reportedly unfair," it said.
The three men have claimed their innocence in the violence, and their lawyers have
provided police with a list of 16 people they accuse of masterminding the violence.
Police have restarted investigations into the 2000 incident but have not arrested any
suspects in the case.
Earlier, the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) demanded the government abolish
capital punishment.
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