Indonesian Court Sentences 17 In Attack on Christian Churches

In Semarang, Indonesia, four panels of district court judges last week convicted 17 Muslims of destroying public property and assault in connection with sectarian violence that took place last February in the central Java town of Temanggung. (See prior posting.)  AFP reported that 16 of the defendants were sentenced to 5 months in jail and one was sentenced to 4 months after convictions relating to the burning of two Christian churches and the ransacking of a third as a mob of 1500, unhappy with the 5-yearsentence imposed by a court, demanded that a Christian man be sentenced to death for insulting Islam. One of the defendants was found to have sent text messages the day before the Christian man's trial on the order of a local Muslim cleric who apparently planned the attack.. Nine others, including the cleric, will receive verdicts this week.