JAKARTA (CNS): Hours after an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI, Indonesian officials issued a last-minute stay of execution for three Catholics, but said they would be executed after August 20.
General Sutanto, the national police chief, announced the stay of execution on August 11 for Fabianus Tibo, 60, Dominggus da Silva, 39, and Marinus Riwu, 48.
The three were sentenced to death after being convicted in 2001 of murdering 200 Muslims in May-June 2000 in the Poso area, in Central Sulawesi.
Christian-Muslim clashes from December 1998 to December 2001 in the area killed hundreds of people, with estimates ranging as high as 2000.
The Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences of the three, and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected their plea for clemency on November 10.
