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Indonesian militants get jail terms for beheadings
Jakarta,
Mar
21:
An
Indonesian
court
jailed
three
Muslim
militants
today
for
the
beheadings
of
three
Christian
schoolgirls
from
religiously
divided
Central
Sulawesi
province.
Judges
found
the
main
defendant,
Hasanuddin,
guilty
of
masterminding
the
beheadings
of
the
Christian
girls
in
2005
in
Central
Sulawesi's
Poso
region
and
sentenced
him
to
20
years
in
prison.
A
separate
bench
sentenced
Hasanuddin's
accomplices,
Lilik
Purnomo
and
Irwanto
Irano,
to
14
years
in
prison.
Chief
judge
Binsar
Siregar
said
Hasanuddin
asked
his
accomplices
to
put
the
severed
heads
in
plastic
bags
and
place
them
outside
Christian
houses.
Hasanuddin
scrawled
a
warning
on
a
piece
of
paper
saying:
''A
life
for
a
life.
A
head
for
a
head'',
and
put
it
in
one
of
the
bags,
the
judge
said.
The
attacks
were
aimed
at
avenging
the
killings
of
Muslims
during
the
1998-2001
inter-religious
violence
in
Poso.
About
2,000
people
from
both
communities
died
in
the
violence
before
a
peace
pact
was
signed
in
2001,
but
sporadic
attacks
have
continued.
Poso
has
been
tense
since
the
execution
of
three
Christian
militants
in
September
over
their
role
in
the
massacres
of
Muslims
at
a
boarding
school
in
2000.
Prosecutors
had
not
sought
the
death
penalty
for
Hasanuddin
and
his
accomplices
because
they
had
expressed
remorse
during
trial
and
the
families
of
the
victims
had
forgiven
them.
''I'm
ready
but
I
object
to
the
verdict
because
statements
from
defence
witnesses
were
not
taken
into
account,''
Hasanuddin
told
reporters
after
the
trial.
The
beheadings
triggered
an
outcry
across
Indonesia,
the
world's
most
populous
Muslim
nation,
and
beyond.
The
Vatican
described
the
attack
as
barbaric.
One
of
the
four
girls
who
was
attacked
was
wounded
but
managed
to
escape
and
report
what
had
happened.
Around
85
per
cent
of
Indonesia's
220
million
people
follow
Islam,
but
some
eastern
regions
have
large
Christian
populations.
Reuters
