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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