By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News ServicePALU, INDONESIA (ANS) – Three Christians have been executed in Indonesia by a government firing squad

Three Christians have been executed in Indonesia by a government firing squadAccording to a news release from Jubilee Campaign, the executions of Marianus Riwu, Fabianus Tibo and Dominggus da Silva occurred at about 1.00am on Fri. Sept.22.

The Times Online reported that thousands protested over the execution of the three Christians, torching an official’s house, looting shops and setting prisoners free in the hometown of one of the executed men.

The three individuals were executed by a police firing squad before dawn in religiously-divided Central Sulawesi province, despite appeals for mercy from Pope Benedict XVI and human rights groups.

According to the Times Online, Tibo, Riwu and Silva were sentenced to death in 2001, after being found guilty of leading a mob in an attack that killed more than 200 people at an Islamic boarding school during Muslim-Christian clashes in the province.

The three men had originally been scheduled to die in Aug., but the executions were postponed after the Pope’s appeal and demonstrations by thousands of Indonesians.

Security was tight in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi province, the Times Online reported, where violence between the Christian and Muslim populations has left thousands dead in recent years.

The Times Online reported that the prisoners’ Catholic priest, Jimmy Tumbelaka, told the Reuters news agency, “According to valid information I received they were shot in a sitting position with their hands tied. Two were blindfolded while Marianus Riwu refused to be blindfolded.”

The bodies of Tibo and Riwu were flown to their hometown, the Times Online reported, while Silva, from Atambua in West Timor, was buried in Palu, 1,650 km (1,030 miles) northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

Silva’s death triggered protests by thousands of Christians in Atambua. A local Red Cross official, Elli Mali, said that the demonstrators broke into a jail and freed about 200 prisoners. “The mob numbers in thousands. I ran into some of the prisoners and they said, ‘I’m free!’”, the Times Online reported the official said.

The protesters threw rocks and burned the local prosecutor’s house. Julito Borges, a policeman in Atambua, said that two policemen were injured but the crowd had begun to disperse.

In Palu, where the executions took place, the Times Online reported that Christians appeared to have responded to Bishop Joseph Suwatan’s call for the faithful to remain calm. Mourners attended church services to pray for the men.

Since Dec. 2005, in response to calls for clemency and declarations of “not guilty” from Muslim and Christian groups in Indonesia, Jubilee Campaign stated in a news release that the organization had joined a chorus of voices around the world which sought a stay of execution pending a full investigation into the irregular and unjust trial proceedings.

“Due process violations not only occurred throughout the trial proceedings, but the executions themselves were riddled with violations,” said Ann Buwalda, Jubilee Campaign’s USA Director, in the news release. Reports from their legal defense team stated that the men were not provided their last sacraments before being shot.

Jubilee Campaign commented that Christians in Central Sulawesi “are distressed at the blatant prosecutorial bias, which completely overlooked the fact that approximately 1,000 Christians will killed during the conflict and numerous Christian villages torched to the ground by Muslim jihadist groups.”

Jubilee Campaign said the organization “expresses our heartfelt condolences to the devastated families of Marianus, Fabianus, and Dominggus. During the detainment and the trial, the Christian community stood with these men and their families, and it is fitting that it continues to do so during their time of grief and bereavement.”

Jubilee Campaign is asking that those interested send a letter of condolence to the families. The organization is also accepting financial gifts to help the wives and children of the three men.