Indonesia executes 3 people convicted for murder

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has executed three people convicted for murder, including a mother and a son, an official said on Saturday, the latest in a string of recent executions in the country.

Jakarta has defended the death penalty as a necessary deterrent. Three militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings are likely to be executed soon after the Supreme Court rejected their final appeal, but no date has been announced.

The 59-year-old mother, Sumiarsih, and her 43-year-old son, Sugeng, faced a firing squad in Surabaya city in East Java province around midnight, Abdul Hakim Ritonga, deputy attorney general for general crimes, said.

Both were sentenced to death for murdering five members of a family 20 years ago over a money dispute.

Separately, an Indonesian shaman, Tubagus Yusuf Maulana, was executed on Friday night in Banten province, near Jakarta, Ritonga said.

Maulana, who claimed to have the power to double money, was convicted for murdering eight people in a series of ritual slayings. A belief in mysticism and supernatural powers is common among many Indonesians.