Executions in Indonesia

From Catholic World News we read:

Vatican officials are mourning the deaths of three Indonesian Catholics who were executed on September 22 for allegedly masterminding a massacre of Muslims.....

.....prison officials also refused to grant the request of a priest to hear the men's confessions and celebrate Mass with them a final time.

How utterly lacking in mercy are the people who held these men prisoner. What harm, in their eyes, could have come from allowing them to see a priest. I hope I am not judging them when I say that it certainly looks like a decision stemming from pure hatred. May God have mercy on the souls of those who died and on the souls of those who inflicted this punishment as well.