INDIA: Thirteen men were convicted in eastern India yesterday for the burning to death of Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons over four years ago as they slept in their jeep.
Judge Mahendranath Patnaik, who conducted the 30-month trial in Orissa state, will hand down the sentences next week.
The guilty men, who denied the charges, could receive the death penalty, but the murdered missionary's brother, Mr John Staines, said he hoped the killers would be allowed to live.
"We have forgiven them in Christ's name. I think that these men have to face up to what they've done. By the same token, I don't want to see them put to death over it."
Staines and his sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (8), were burnt alive in 1999 when a mob of Hindu fanatics burned their vehicle while while they slept outside a church in Manoharpur, a village 165km north of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital.
The killings were part of a series of attacks against Christian missionaries and their institutions, reportedly by right-wing Hindu groups aligned to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the federal coalition. These extremists were incensed about poor Hindus allegedly being forcibly converted by missionaries.
Dara Singh, the main defendant in the case, was treated as a hero by local support groups and tribal villagers, who helped hide him for a year before his arrest. He is to appeal against his sentence.
The slain missionary's wife, Gladys, said in an interview last week that she had forgiven her husband's and children's killers.
"The Bible teaches us that we are to forgive others. I realised that if we don't forgive, we let bitterness come into our own lives."
The government-appointed investigation dismissed suggestions that a hardline Hindu group, Bajrang Dal, had carried out the attack on the family.
A special juvenile court in 2000 sentenced a 13-year-old boy to 14 years in jail for involvement in the Staines slayings.
Critics have long accused the BJP and allied hardline groups of a deep-seated bias against minority Muslims and Christians. The BJP denies prejudice.