Indonesia seeks more jail terms in Poso beheadings

Jakarta, Feb 21: Indonesian prosecutors sought 20-year jail sentences today for two more defendants in the beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls from religiously divided Central Sulawesi province.

Prosecutors said they were among the group that carried out the morning attack against the Christian girls who were on their way to school in the province's Poso region.

''Lilik Purnomo and Irwanto Irano are guilty of criminal conspiracy in a terrorism act that left three students dead and one injured,'' lead prosecutor Firman Syah told the Central Jakarta district court.

The prosecutor said Purnomo was the field coordinator assigned to observe the situation, while Irano led the ambush on the small path assisted by four other members of the group.

On Monday, prosecutors also demanded the court hand down a 20-year jail sentence to another militant, Hasanuddin, for masterminding the beheadings.

The attacks were aimed at avenging the killings of Muslims during the 1998-2001 inter-religious violence in Poso.

A total of about 2,000 people from both communities died in the violence before a peace pact was signed in 2001, but sporadic attacks and fighting have continued.

As in the case of Hasanuddin, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty because defendants had expressed remorse during trial and the families of the victims had forgiven them.

The trial will resume next Wednesday.

The beheadings triggered an outcry across Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and beyond. The Vatican described the attack as barbaric.

Besides the three on trial, another man being held in police custody has confessed to swinging the machete that killed one of the girls.

The defendants are being tried under Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws.

One of the four girls who was attacked was wounded but managed to escape and report what had happened.

Poso has been tense since the execution of three Christian ilitants in September over their role in the massacres of Muslims at a boarding school in 2000.

Around 85 per cent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam, giving the country the world's largest Muslim population, but some of eastern regions have large Christian populations.

Most Indonesian Muslims are moderates but there is a radical fringe that has been increasingly vocal and media-savvy.

Reuters

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