denied spiritual counseling before being shot by a firing squad. Fabianus Tibo, 61, Marianus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus Silva, 38, were executed for alleged involvement in an attack that killed over 200 people at an Islamic boarding school during Muslim-Christian clashes in Central Sulawesi’s Poso region.
Till the last moment the three men denied the charges, while human rights groups expressed doubts about the evidence against them and criticized the way the trial was conducted. Even Muslim witnesses reportedly said the men were only involved in humanitarian aid and even tried to end the fighting.
A day before Friday’s execution, Indonesian authorities did not allow Tibo, Riwu and Silva to attend a special church service for them, BosNewsLife learned. A special mass was held in Petobo Prison, where the families of the three Catholic men were able to attend, Catholic church sources said.
MEETING PRIEST
Tibo, Riwu and Silva were only permitted to briefly meet and pray for about five minute with a priest Friday, September 22 who earlier gave them the last sacraments according to Catholic tradition.
After the brief prayer, authorities apparently forced the priest, Jimmy Tumbelaka, to leave and the three men were escorted to the place of execution.
In published statements, Tumbelaka, said they had been officially declared dead at 3 a.m. local time, although police officials said the execution was hours earlier.
"According to valid information I received, they were shot in a sitting position with their hands tied," Tumbelaka said. "Two were blindfolded, while Marianus Riwu refused to be blindfolded."
BODIES FLOWN
The bodies of Tibo and Riwu were placed on police helicopters and flown back to their village of Beteleme in Central Sulawesi’s Morowalai district for burial, police said. Da Silva was immediately buried in Palu, but his supporters returned to the graveyard late Friday to dig up his body, saying they wanted to substitute his government-issued clothing and coffin with their own, news reports said.
Media said the three may have been killed to make it easier for authorities to execute three Islamic militants awaiting for the 2002 bombings on Bali that killed 202 mostly foreign tourists
Priest Tumbelaka regretted that the police and prosecutors rejected the men’s last request, that their bodies be taken to St. Mary Church in Palu for a requiem Mass led by Sacred Heart Bishop Josephus Suwatan of Manado. "That is really inhuman. It is against human rights," he said. But "we will hold a requiem Mass" led by the bishop "even without their bodies," he told reporters.
In a reaction, Robert Tibo,, Fabianus’s eldest son, said there “are no more tears in our family… we have lost the power to cry." In his last public statement before being executed, Robert’s father, Fabianus, said he was "not afraid of dying." Instead, he reportedly said: "I am praying that my family be able to provide for themselves and forgive me for not being with them all these years."
"My hands are clean. We are innocent," said Riwu in a statement published by Catholic news service AsiaNews. "It is a political plot to cover 16 names we denounced as the real culprits,” he added. Silva apparently noted that the “law is against us. For years we tried to tell the truth but they silenced us."
FRESH RIOTS
As news spread they had been executed, riots broke out on the island of Flores, Sulawesi villages, the town of Poso and West Timor. The streets were apparently calm in Palu, where the executions took place, as mourners estimated at about 1,000 filled the main Roman Catholic church to pray for the three men.
The largest happened in Atambua, West Timor, Silva’s hometown , where thousands of Christians protested the executions. Police and a local Red Cross official, Elli Mali, said demonstrators had broken into a jail and freed about 200 prisoners.
"The mob numbers in thousands," Mali reportedly said. "I ran into some of the prisoners and they said, ‘I’m free!’" The protesters threw rocks and burned the local prosecutor’s house, according to the Indonesian news media and police officials Friday’s executions took place despite an appeal last month by Pope Benedict XVI to spare the men.
VATICAN CONCERNED
Vatican officials were also protesting and mourning the deaths of the three Indonesian Catholics. "It is very sad and very painful news," Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, was quoted by Catholic media as telling reporters.
The Vatican did not release a formal statement about the execution– perhaps hoping to avoid further tensions with Islamic groups in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic country, Catholic commentators said.
Human rights organizations, including International Christian Concern, Jubilee Campaign and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) raised concerns over whet they see as the discrepancy in sentencing Christians and Muslims involved in the Poso religious clashes in 2000.
They claim that while Muslims have been arrested, no Muslim received “a significantly severe” sentence. “For example, no arrests have been made following the attack and beheading of three Christian schoolgirls in Sulawesi last October,” CSW said in a statement to BosNewsLife.
CHURCH LEADER RESIGNS
Rinaldy Damanik, the leader of the Central Sulawesi Christian Church, has reportedly said he is resigning in protest at the killings. “The execution of these three Catholic Christians is deeply saddening and concerning, and our thoughts are with their families at this time,” added CSW Advocacy Director Alexa Papadouris.
"The case has raised concerns that the severity of sentences given to those who were accused of involvement in the violence has varied widely between Christians and Muslims. We urge the Indonesian authorities to act with wisdom to restore peace following these executions and we call on them to act fairly and promote justice for those still detained following the violence in 2000," Papadouris added.
Jubilee Campaign said it had opened a special fund to financially support the families of the executed men. It said letters and checks can be mailed to the Jubilee Campaign, 9689-C Main Street, Fairfax, VA 22031. Its website for online donations is http://www.jubileecampaign.org/home/index.php (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos, and BosNewsLife News Center).
