Indonesian executions spark violent protests

PALU, Indonesia, Sep 22 (Reuters) Thousands protested over the execution of three Christians in Indonesia today, torching an official's house and setting prisoners free in the hometown of one of the executed men.

The three militants were executed by a police firing squad early today in Central Sulawesi province, despite appeals from Pope Benedict and rights groups.

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus 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 August 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, where violence between large Christian and Muslim populations has left thousands dead in recent years.

''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 convicts' Catholic priest, Jimmy Tumbelaka, told Reuters.

The bodies of Tibo and Riwu were flown to their hometown while Silva, from Atambua in West Timor, was buried in Palu, 1,650 km northeast of Jakarta.

Silva's death triggered protests by thousands of Christians in Atambua. A local Red Cross official, Elli Mali, said 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!''', Mali told Reuters.

The protesters threw rocks and burned the local prosecutors' house, Indonesian media and police said.

Julito Borges, a policeman in Atambua, told Reuters two policemen were injured but the crowd had begun to disperse.

In Palu, Bishop Joseph Suwatan, whose diocese oversees North and Central Sulawesi, urged the faithful in Palu to remain calm.

MORE REUTERS DKA KN1746