Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 26, 2006 17:23:17 GMT -5
INDONESIA----executions
Indonesia executes 3, despite EU appeal
3 Christian militants were executed early Friday for leading attacks on
Muslims 6 years ago, including a gun and machete assault on a school that
left at least 70 people dead, a police official and local media said.
The executions were carried out Friday despite a call by the European
Union for Indonesia to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, European
diplomats and Indonesian officials said.
The men were taken before a firing squad at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, said a
senior police officer who asked not to be named because he was not
authorized to speak to the press. Metro TV and SCTV had similar reports,
but did not name their sources.
The case against the men has heightened tensions in the world's most
populous Muslim nation and raised questions about the role religion played
in punishing those allegedly behind the violence that swept Sulawesi
Province from 1998 to 2002, killing more than 1,000 people of both
religions.
Only a handful of Muslims were convicted in the violence, all for 15 years
in prison or less.
"The European Union, along with many other like-minded countries, opposes
the use of the death penalty in all circumstances," the Finnish
ambassador, Markko Niinioga, representing the presidency of the EU, said
in a letter that was delivered Wednesday to the Indonesian president,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "The EU finds this punishment cruel and
inhuman."
The letter was read to a journalist by a European diplomat, who did so on
the condition of anonymity because the letter has not been released
publicly. An aide to Yudhoyono confirmed that it had been received.
Yudhoyono is considered a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize,
because of his work in bringing about an end to the separatist war in the
westernmost province of Aceh, and European diplomats said that the
executions could hurt his chances, given the strong anti-death penalty
sentiments among European governments.
3 Muslims are facing imminent execution for their role in the 2002 Bali
bombings.
(source: Associated Press)
Indonesia executes 3, despite EU appeal
3 Christian militants were executed early Friday for leading attacks on
Muslims 6 years ago, including a gun and machete assault on a school that
left at least 70 people dead, a police official and local media said.
The executions were carried out Friday despite a call by the European
Union for Indonesia to declare a moratorium on the death penalty, European
diplomats and Indonesian officials said.
The men were taken before a firing squad at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, said a
senior police officer who asked not to be named because he was not
authorized to speak to the press. Metro TV and SCTV had similar reports,
but did not name their sources.
The case against the men has heightened tensions in the world's most
populous Muslim nation and raised questions about the role religion played
in punishing those allegedly behind the violence that swept Sulawesi
Province from 1998 to 2002, killing more than 1,000 people of both
religions.
Only a handful of Muslims were convicted in the violence, all for 15 years
in prison or less.
"The European Union, along with many other like-minded countries, opposes
the use of the death penalty in all circumstances," the Finnish
ambassador, Markko Niinioga, representing the presidency of the EU, said
in a letter that was delivered Wednesday to the Indonesian president,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "The EU finds this punishment cruel and
inhuman."
The letter was read to a journalist by a European diplomat, who did so on
the condition of anonymity because the letter has not been released
publicly. An aide to Yudhoyono confirmed that it had been received.
Yudhoyono is considered a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize,
because of his work in bringing about an end to the separatist war in the
westernmost province of Aceh, and European diplomats said that the
executions could hurt his chances, given the strong anti-death penalty
sentiments among European governments.
3 Muslims are facing imminent execution for their role in the 2002 Bali
bombings.
(source: Associated Press)