Indonesian militant gets 20 years for beheading Christian girls:

[Praxius]

Indonesian militant gets 20 years for beheading Christian girls

Three Islamic militants were found guilty Wednesday of decapitating three Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia and dumping their bloodied heads in nearby villages, judges said. They were sentenced to between 14 and 20 years. The alleged members of the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network left a handwritten note close to the bodies, vowing more killings to avenge the deaths of Muslims in earlier sectarian violence on Sulawesi island. "Wanted - 100 more heads," said Judge Lilik Mulyadi, reciting the letter's text. "Blood must be paid with blood, lives with lives, heads with heads." Hasanuddin, 34, who goes by a single name, was sentenced to 20 years for masterminding the 2005 attack, and co-conspirators Lilik Purnomo, 28, and Irwanto Irano, 29, each got 14 years, he said. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years targeting local Christians and nightclubs, restaurants and foreign embassies. But the grisly nature of the beheadings - which occurred as the children were cutting through a cocoa plantation on their way to school - gave fresh impetus to the country's war on terrorism and was followed by scores of arrests. The three militants had faced a maximum penalty of death by firing squad, but judges ruled that they deserved some leniency for co-operating with authorities, confessing and showing remorse.

Do you think they should be executed for this crime, or is the leniency appropreate since they co-operated with the officials?

To me, taking out three school girls who had no involvement in what was going on, and beheading them to prove a point or to seek their own justice is pretty sad.... they didn't show kindness and remorse when they cut their heads off, why should they get it now?

[Duke1985]

I'd say kill them personally.
14-20 years hardly seems enough for murder and dismemberment.

[brien]

they didn't show kindness and remorse when they cut their heads off, why should they get it now?

They shouldn't. They should have been sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole or given the opportunity to select the firing squad at any time during their incarceration.

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: brien They shouldn't. They should have been sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole or given the opportunity to select the firing squad at any time during their incarceration.

Agreed.

[notworthabean]

Quote by: brien They shouldn't. They should have been sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole or given the opportunity to select the firing squad at any time during their incarceration.

Esp considering indonesias habit of loosing terrorists way earlier then their sentances permits (see the bali bombers)

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: Praxius To me, taking out three school girls who had no involvement in what was going on, and beheading them to prove a point or to seek their own justice is pretty sad.... they didn't show kindness and remorse when they cut their heads off, why should they get it now?

I agree, they should be executed, just like the U.S. militants who rape and kill Iraqi civilians.

[rmnunez]

I think cooperating with the authorities, confessing and showing remorse deserve leniency. I doubt the convicted will pose any danger to society once they fulfill their sentences. I don't think their execution would serve as much of a deterrent, their conduct was obviously aberrant and the people who do these sorts of things aren't much influenced by fear of the consequences.

[Slevin57]

It doesn't really matter to me, I think it's worse to see people put in jail.

Hasn't anyone told these people that they have to form a government and THEN go to war? Then it's perfectly acceptable to kill men, women, and children. It doe s usually help to win. Then you get to write the history books

"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it" -Winston Churchill

[Nono]

I agree with rmnunez on this one.

What do you seek, the emotional satisfaction (your emotional satisfaction) of vengeance? Or a means of perhaps preventing the crime from recurring?

Obviously, condemning a jihadi nutcase to death is tantamount to scratching his back. Bravo.
But as rum indicates, cooperation with the authorities suggests that these guys aren't quite the stuff of hard-core jihadis. Why make martyrs of them?

And a reality check here: Muslims killing (beheading, whatever) Christians and Christians killing (beheading, whatever) Muslims is nothing new in Indonesia. A guy I know was present during a bad bout of it in Kalimantan about 10 years ago. The scale was far greater than this. There the shoe was mostly on the other foot, so it didn't make quite such a splash in the Western media.

[rmnunez]

If religious slaughter and decapitation is customary, the sentences may be too harsh.

[bishop]

Quote by: nono Obviously, condemning a jihadi nutcase to death is tantamount to scratching his back. Bravo. But as rum indicates, cooperation with the authorities suggests that these guys aren't quite the stuff of hard-core jihadis. Why make martyrs of them?

i wouldn't characterize these as being a religiously motivated killings. they're just hiding behind religion, when at the core of it, they're just vile criminals.

truly religious people don't get involved in the business of killing children. and, it's exceedingly easy for people to pretend to be religious, when they really aren't.

i like brien's approach.. life imprisonment, with the option of ending it by firing squad if that's what the inmates want.

[jsevilla]

That is it, 20 years?. He should get life. He took away the lives of young innocent girls and beheaded them and just threw their heads in nearby villages. What kind of evil person is that?. So what if they were co-operating with authorities, it does not change the fact that he did something so gruesome. He should get life and rot in jail for what he did to those innocent girls.

[Praxius]

Yeah... I don't care if they have remorse or co-operated with police.... if you go out and kidnap someone, kill them, behead them and stick their heads around town, then writting letters on each head saying you're gonna do it again and you're looking for 100 more heads.... do you think 20 years makes sense? They're only showing remorse because they got caught....

If that's customary in their culture, then saw their friggin heads off and stick them around town with letters saying "Don't do this, or you'll be next" ~ Which I think would work a lot better then sticking them in jail or shooting them.

[The Decider]

Quote by: Nono Obviously, condemning a jihadi nutcase to death is tantamount to scratching his back. Bravo. But as rum indicates, cooperation with the authorities suggests that these guys aren't quite the stuff of hard-core jihadis. Why make martyrs of them? And a reality check here: Muslims killing (beheading, whatever) Christians and Christians killing (beheading, whatever) Muslims is nothing new in Indonesia. A guy I know was present during a bad bout of it in Kalimantan about 10 years ago. The scale was far greater than this. There the shoe was mostly on the other foot, so it didn't make quite such a splash in the Western media.

These executions come six months after Indonesia shot 3 Sulawesi Christians for their alleged part in the Poso sectarian riots, despite weak evidence. In this beheading case, nobody disputes that the crime took place. I don't see much fairness there.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Executions spark Indonesia unrest

Nor do I see how these three murderers can escape death while 4 Australians await execution for smuggling drugs.

Bali death penalty 'correction' - World - smh.com.au

Indonesian courts are riddled with corruption and political meddling. Executing these murderers is dangerous politically.

It's sad, but this commutation of sentence stinks.

[rmnunez]

I liked the idea of sawing the head and sticking it on a pole in their neighborhood, with the message on the forehead; decapitate and be decapitated (or words to that effect). Seems an effective way to get the idea across, a good deterrent.

[Nono]

Right. They used to do that kind of thing on the Khyber Pass. And look at the place today.

[blacpete]

"Blood must be paid with blood, lives with lives, heads with heads."

We all want blood. I say we should have just followed their own instructions when sentencing these guys, "heads with heads."

[rmnunez]

Members of more civilized societies might want to move away from the retributive Golden Rule and on to more modern and sophisticated criminal justice constructs. Contemporary penology contemplates 3 functions in criminal punishment; protection, rehabilitation and example. In terrorism cases it may not be possible to rehabilitate the convict, particularly if imbued by religious notions, but to conclude therefore death is the answer seems excessive. With sufficient a period of incarceration even religiously-inspired convicted terrorists could eventually be rehabilitated and successfully reintegrated in society.

[Praxius]

Quote by: rmnunez Members of more civilized societies might want to move away from the retributive Golden Rule and on to more modern and sophisticated criminal justice constructs. Contemporary penology contemplates 3 functions in criminal punishment; protection, rehabilitation and example. In terrorism cases it may not be possible to rehabilitate the convict, particularly if imbued by religious notions, but to conclude therefore death is the answer seems excessive. With sufficient a period of incarceration even religiously-inspired convicted terrorists could eventually be rehabilitated and successfully reintegrated in society.

Or made worse by being incarcerated for long periods of time.... eventually they become acustomed to prison and can learn to fear the outside world even more then before, and increase their chances of committing another crime.

And who is to say which society is more civilized over another.... I'm sure our society has plenty of things in it that many would deem uncivilized.

[gw120]

When are they eligible for parole?

Lock em up for life, make em eligible for parole after 25-30 years. And only if they're put far away from every christian and school girl in the area and are monitored constantly and can't go more than 200 yards from their house. Don't execute them. No matter how much you hate them I say make the mother fuckers rot in jail.