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Family's Forgiveness Needed to Save Maid From Death Sentence in Saudi Arabia
Dessy Sagita | October 12, 2011

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jusdogin
8:01pm Oct 14, 2011

if we made work in Indonesia these girls would not have to go to saudi or malaysia to be abused and killed


bop-head
9:17pm Oct 12, 2011

When dealing with issues involving foreign domestic workers, there is much controversy in how to respond or take action. Regarding this case, the domestic worker was indeed protecting herself; however, she had unnecessarily stolen from the victim’s family. By what means is she convicted under the death penalty? Intentional murder is worthy of the death penalty, but if it is out of self defense, there can be no charge. She may be convicted of theft, but that is most definitely unworthy of a death sentence.

denniH
3:08pm Oct 12, 2011

Just how many Indonesian maids are in prison having murdered their employers? This one does seem to have had the presence of mind to steal before making her escape.

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Forgiveness from the victim’s family is the only way to save an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia from the death sentence, an official said on Wednesday.

Tuti Tursilawati, a 27-year-old woman from Majalengka, West Java, is facing the death sentence in the next three weeks after being found guilty of murdering her employer, Suud Malhaq Al Utibi, in May of last year.

Tuti claimed that Al Utibi tried to rape her and she hit his head with a piece of wood and fled from his house taking 31,500 riyal ($8,399) and a wristwatch.

She was arrested a week later in Thaif and confessed to killing the victim.

“It is indeed a critical time because we have exhausted every legal process to save her from execution. We are doing everything we can to get forgiveness,” Michael Tene, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Jakarta Globe.

Michael said the government was doing everything it could to save Tuti and other migrant workers facing the death sentence. He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been making approaches to its Saudi Arabian counterparts to facilitate negotiation with the victim’s family to grant Tuti forgiveness and if possible replace the punishment with a compensation payment, diyat.

“I want to stress that the forgiveness needed to save Tuti is not in the hands of the Saudi Arabian government, but up to the family,” he said.

The executive director of Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, said some migrant worker activists have initiated an international campaign to save Tuti and the movement will be launched on Friday.

Anis said she would reach out to local and international non-government organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to gather support for Tuti.

“In any circumstance, we cannot justify the death sentence for someone who committed a murdered in self defense. She was defending her honor,” she said.

Anis said she was skeptical whether the government’s efforts to save Indonesian migrant workers facing the death sentence would be fruitful, because the soft diplomacy method employed was often ignored by the Saudi Arabian government.

“In this case we need a high level of diplomacy. I think President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should take a direct approach with the king of Saudi Arabia,” she said.

Michael said Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa approached his Saudi Arabian counterpart and President Yudhoyono sent a letter to the king asking for cancellation of the death sentence.

“We are doing everything we can,” Michael said.

Tuti, the mother of a five-year-old boy, is slated to be executed after the hajj season ends.

Seven Indonesian workers have been spared from the death sentence this year in Saudi Arabia.