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Indonesia 'to execute Christians'
 Three Indonesian Christians convicted of leading attacks on Muslims will be executed on Saturday, officials say. The three men, who have been on death row since 2001, will face the firing squad just after midnight local time (1600 GMT). They were sentenced for inciting attacks during religious rioting in Central Sulawesi in 2000.Sulawesi province has a long history of violence between Muslim and Christians. More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed during two years of violence triggered by a brawl between Christian and Muslim gangs in December 1998. Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu were convicted of masterminding a series of attacks on the Muslim community in the central district of Poso in 2000. The men, who say they are innocent, had their final appeal rejected by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year. On Thursday, the European Union warned that the executions could harm the "fragile equilibrium that exists between different ethnic and religious groups".
But a spokesman for the attorney-general said the executions, set to take place in a secret location in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu, would go ahead. "There will be no delay unless there's a natural catastrophe," I Wayan Pasek Suartha told journalists.
Posted by: tipper 2006-08-11 |
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