RI joins condemnation of U.S. hostage killing

RI joins condemnation of U.S. hostage killing

Agencies, Jakarta/Bangkok

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and its
religious leaders on Saturday joined a chorus of worldwide
condemnation over the beheading of U.S. hostage Paul Johnson, but
at least one Indonesian figure blamed the killing on American
foreign policy.

The Indonesian government condemned on Sunday the barbaric
killing of the American hostage by al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.

"The Indonesian government condemns the barbaric killing and
terrorism act committed against Paul Johnson, after six days
being held as a hostage by al-Qaeda," the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"The act cannot be justified on any ground," it said.

Several Islamic leaders in Indonesia said Johnson's death
would do little to influence U.S. Middle East policy.

"We have to condemn these kinds of brutal acts," said
Azyumardi Azra, a Muslim scholar at the National Islamic
University in Jakarta.

"We understand that certain radical groups hate America
because of what they see as its unfair or unjust policies in this
war against terrorism," Azra said. "At the same time, these
groups should not make civilians targets. This will only create
more violence and won't solve the problem. It will only
strengthen the American resolve."

But Irfan Awwas, chairman of the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia,
a Islamic group once headed by jailed cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir,
said the killings would continue unless the United States leaves
Iraq and Afghanistan and stops attacks in Palestinian territory.

"The killing of innocent people is wrong," Awwas said. "But it
is a result of United States policies in the Middle East."

Elsewhere, several world leaders condemned the beheading of
Johnson by an al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, with U.S. President
George W. Bush calling the killers "militant thugs" and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair saying the slaying was "an act of
barbarism."

French President Jacques Chirac said he was "horrified" by the
slaying of Johnson, denouncing the act as inhuman and shameful.

"I am horrified by the beastly methods that are very difficult
to describe because they are at the complete opposite of
everything we consider respectable as humans," Chirac said on
Friday at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

"I can only express the shame that we all feel faced with the
behavior coming from human beings of this nature."

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Gulf
states on Sunday condemned as barbaric and criminal the murder of
U.S. hostage Johnson by al-Qaeda militants.

In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard called the slaying an
"evil act without any conceivable justification.

"All decent people will be appalled at the callous beheading
of the United States hostage in Saudi Arabia, Paul Johnson,"
Howard said in a statement Saturday. "It is a sickening reminder
of both the face and behavior of international terrorism.

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