2006年VOA标准英语-Indonesia Set to Execute Three Christian M

By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
06 April 2006
 
Three Christian¹ militants² sentenced to death for killing³ Muslims during sectarian violence that shook Indonesia's Sulawesi island six years ago may be executed this month.  Supporters of the three men say they are not guilty, and are being used as scapegoats⁴.

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The three Indonesian Catholic men, Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus de Silva and Marinus Riwu, were convicted of killing Muslims during Muslim-Christian clashes in the central Sulawesi town of Poso in 2000.

The men have exhausted⁵ most avenues to stop their execution, two higher courts and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have rejected their appeals.

But the chief attorney for the three men, Stefanus Roy Rening, says they are still waiting for a reply from Mr. Yudhoyono on a second clemency⁶ appeal, filed last month.

He says all three men are innocent and being used as scapegoats in an unfair justice system.  He also says the three are not the masterminds of the Poso violence, which is why they should not be executed.

The men are convicted of a massacre⁷ of more than 200 unarmed people, mostly women, children and students, who were shot and hacked⁸ to death while hiding in a Muslim school.  It was one of the worst incidents in the clashes between Muslims and Christians⁹ that claimed more than 1,000 lives.

But the three deny being at the scene of the killings¹⁰, and police are investigating 16 other men as the real masterminds of the massacre.

The issue has split many in the Muslim community, which makes up more than 90-percent of the Indonesian population.  Some want to see the three live long enough to testify in the case of the 16, while others believe they should die.

In the Christian community, support for the three runs high.  International Christian organizations have flooded the attorney general's office with appeals for them.

Sidney Jones, from the International Crisis Group, says this has led some in the government to ask why there has been such an outcry against the death penalty for these three men, when there was no outcry for the death sentences given to Muslim militants, convicted of a series of bombings in Indonesia.

"Why is it that, in this case, the three people who are facing imminent¹¹ execution have generated such an outpouring of support from around the world?  The implication is, because they are Christian, while the bombers¹² of Bali and of the Australian Embassy were Muslims," Jones said.

Catholic leader Theophilus Belo says, many people, both Christian and Muslim, fear the executions will stir up more violence.

"If the three people will be executed, then there will be tension again between the Christian and the Muslim community," Belo said.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office says the executions will be carried out this month.

While a government-mediated truce¹³ has been in place in central Sulawesi since 2001, sporadic¹⁴ bombings and other attacks still take place, most of them targeting Christians. 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 scapegoats   

n.代人受过的人，替罪羊( scapegoat的名词复数 )v.使成为替罪羊( scapegoat的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They were made the scapegoats for the misfire of the program. 他们成了那个计划失败的替罪羊。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Only some of the guards and a minor hotel employee, chosen as scapegoats, were imprisoned. 只有一些保镖和那个旅馆的小职员当了替罪羊，被关进了监狱。 来自辞典例句

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

7 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

8 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

9 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

10 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

11 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

12 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

14 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。