INDONESIA: ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR BEHEADING GIRLS
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Light sentences meted out to Muslim militants for gruesome, premeditated murders.
LOS ANGELES, December 4 (Compass Direct News) – Three Islamic extremists were sentenced yesterday to 19, 14 and 10 years in prison respectively for beheading three Christian teenage girls and shooting two others non-fatally in 2005.
A South Jakarta district court sentenced Rahman Kalahe to 19 years in prison, Agus Nur Muhammad to 14 years and Yudi Heryanto to 10 years after finding them guilty in the beheading of Theresia Morangke and Yarni Sambue, both 15, and 17-year-old Alfita Poliwo.
The men had attacked the girls as they walked to school in Poso district in Sulawesi on October 29, 2005. A fourth girl in the attack, Noviana Malewa, then 15, received serious injuries to her face and neck but survived.
Heryanto and Muhammad were reportedly found guilty of carrying out surveillance for the beheadings.
Kalahe was also found guilty of involvement in a Dec. 31, 2005 bomb attack on a market in Palu that killed at least eight people. Abdul Muis was also convicted for this crime and likewise received a sentence of 19 years. The two men were also convicted of murdering the Rev. Irianto Kongkoli and two high school students in 2006.
Additionally, the court found Syaiful Anam and Amril Niode guilty of bombing a marketplace in the Christian-inhabited town of Tentena, in Poso district, in May 2005, with Anam receiving a prison sentence of 18 years and Niode one of 15 years. The court is trying an accomplice in the attack separately.
In contrast to the sentences for the beheading of the three girls, in September 2006 Indonesia executed by firing squad three Catholics – Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva – whose responsibility for violence in Poso rioting in 2000 was much less clear. The death sentences were carried out in spite of an outpouring of international protest over trial irregularities.
Confessed Killer
After the murders of the teenage girls in Poso, their heads were wrapped in black plastic bags; one was left on the steps of a church in nearby Kasiguncu village, and the other two near a police station five miles from Poso town. The bags contained a note stating in part, “We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents.”
According to a confession by Islamic extremist Lilik Purnomo, the beheadings were planned as a “gift” to celebrate Idul Fitri, a festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The defendants also testified that the beheadings were carried out to avenge the deaths of Muslims during inter-faith clashes in Central Sulawesi between 1998 and 2001.
In a written statement in Central Jakarta District Court in January, Purnomo also confessed to participating in other acts of violence in Poso: a bombing at Immanuel Church, beheading a village chief, and shooting Ferry Silalahi, a Christian attorney who had defended the Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, a Christian peace activist.
Earlier this year, Purnomo (alias Haris or Arman) was sentenced to 14 years for his role in the beheadings, as was Irwanto Irano. Purnomo admitted that he had worked with Kalahe.
Before launching the attack, Purnomo testified, he and the other accomplices bought six machetes with money that an Islamic extremist known by the single name of Hasanuddin had provided. Purnomo also bought the plastic bags later used to wrap the victims’ heads. After the assault, he said, he brought the victims’ heads to Hasanuddin.
In March, Hasanuddin received a 20-year sentence for planning the murder of the girls.
Previous Murders
Purnomo’s confession last year included the shooting of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, then 26. She was shot during worship services at the Central Sulawesi Christian Church (GKST) in Efatah on July 18, 2004.
Rev. Tinulele had just finished preaching on that Sunday evening when a man wearing a black mask appeared at the door and sprayed the congregation with machine gun fire. She died instantly. A choir member, 17-year-old Desrianti Tengkede, received a bullet in the forehead and died in the early hours of the next morning (see Compass Direct News, “Death Toll Rises in Sulawesi, Indonesia,” July 22, 2004).
Four other worshipers received non-fatal bullet wounds. Eyewitnesses said three other men waited on motorbikes outside the church and all fled the scene with the gunman immediately after the shooting.
Rev. Tinulele had been ordained as a minister in the GKST church. She was an active supporter of the Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, another GKST minister who had been imprisoned on what many believed were false charges. Tinulele had visited Damanik in prison July 16, two days before she was shot.
Rev. Damanik is a key signatory of the Malino Peace Accord, signed by Christian and Muslim representatives in December 2001 as an effort to end sectarian violence that began in Sulawesi in 1998. Authorities granted him an early release from his cell in Palu, Sulawesi, on November 9, 2004.
Conflict between Muslim and Christian communities in Central Sulawesi erupted in 2000 and continued until a peace agreement was signed in December 2001. Sporadic violence has continued since then, with the majority of victims being Christians.
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INDONESIA: ISLAMIC GROUPS SECURE CLOSURE OF TWO CHURCHES
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Baptist, Catholic congregations shut down after Muslim extremists attack, protest.
JAKARTA, December 3 (Compass Direct News) – Attacking the house of a Baptist pastor and protesting the presence of a Catholic temple, radical Muslim groups got authorities to close down two churches in the past two weeks. In Banten province, extremists from the Islamic Defender Forces (Front Pembela Islam, or FPI) on November 21 attacked the Tangerang home of the Rev. Bedali Hulu, pastor at Jakarta Christian Baptist Church, kicking out doors and windows, breaking glass and throwing the pastor’s belongings from the house. The church had been meeting in the pastor’s home. As a result of the violent objections to the church, Rev. Hulu met with Pisangan Jaya village leaders on November 22 – with the result that officials asked him to leave the territory until tensions cooled. Activities at the church, which has a permit and is registered with Religious Affairs authorities, came to a halt. In West Jakarta, about 75 Muslim demonstrators on November 23 demanded a halt to worship at Damai Kristus (Christ’s Peace), a Catholic church in Kampung Duri. The raging protestors were ostensibly upset that the church didn’t have a permit for expansion – local authorities had reportedly denied the parish priest’s application without explanation. After tense discussions, the area Muslims eventually produced a letter from the Tambora district head requiring the church to cease activities.
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