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Mentally ill Siti Zainab: Four serving Indonesian presidents
had appealed for clemency since her conviction in 1999. |
Indonesia has summoned Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Jakarta to protest against the beheading of Siti Zainab in the holy city of Medina on Tuesday, 15 years after she was convicted of stabbing and beating to death her employer, Noura Al Morobei.
Neither Indonesian consular officials nor her family were given prior notice, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said, according to the BBC.
Four serving Indonesian presidents had appealed for Zainab’s clemency since her conviction in 1999. They include the current President Joko Widodo, who himself has been criticised for refusing to reduce the sentences of dozens of people on death row in his country.
Zainab’s lawyers had claimed she was abused by her employer, which led to the killing. Human rights groups said she had been acting in self-defence and may have been mentally ill.
Amnesty International said Zainab had confessed to the killing but during police interrogation. Police also had suspected she suffered from mental illness at the time she was interrogated, the group said.
Saudi ambassador to Indonesia Mustafa Ibrahim Al Mubarak said he had been "surprised" to be summoned, but would "check what went wrong", the BBC said.
The execution had been delayed for more than 15 years until the youngest of the victim's children became an adult and could decide whether the family wanted to pardon Zainab or have her executed, the Saudi interior ministry reportedly said.
Saudi Arabia, which is consistently among the top five countries in the world for annual executions, already has beheaded more than 55 people so far this year, well ahead of previous years.
Indonesia summons Saudi envoy over execution of worker
JAKARTA: Forty-seven year old Siti Zaenab duhri Rupa was beheaded in the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (Apr 14).
She was convicted of murdering her female employer, Noura al-Morobei, in 1999. Indonesian diplomats protested that neither Jakarta, nor Siti's family, were informed of the execution beforehand.
Two former Indonesian Presidents had appealed to the Saudi King to help lobby the victim's family to spare Siti's life. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had also filed a request with the Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister and offered to pay more than US$150,000 to the victim's family.
Jakarta summoned the Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia on Wednesday, to protest about the matter. Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Indonesia, Mustafa Ibrahim al-Mubarak, said he too was not notified of the execution.
The Indonesian government has conveyed its condolences to Siti's family and offered to pay for them to fly to Saudi Arabia to visit her grave and hopefully return her remains to be buried in her hometown.
Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Armanatha Nasir said: "Although under Saudi law it may not be mandatory for them to announce am execution, we reiterated our hopes that in the future they would inform us beforehand. As a country with close ties with Saudi, we hope they will notify us earlier so we can prepare the families."
This is not the first row between the two governments over the execution of Indonesian citizens. In 2011, Saudi Arabia executed a 54-year-old migrant worker, causing a public outcry.
In response, Indonesia imposed a moratorium on sending migrant workers to the Kingdom.
Currently, there are 299 Indonesians facing execution overseas. Fifty seven per cent are imprisoned for drug offenses. Rights groups are lobbying Jakarta to halt the imminent executions of at least 10 foreigners convicted of drug offenses in Indonesia.
Indonesian maid to be executed for child murder in Saudi Arabia
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The treatment of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia especially domestic workers
or maids has been a long standing issue. More migrant workers are executed in
Saudi Arabia than in any other country. Maids are subjected to arrests on sham
charges of theft, assault and even witchcraft. Often victims of rape and
sexual violence, they are accused of adultery and fornication. Read more. |
Indonesian domestic helper accused of using cleaver to kill sponsor’s four-year-old daughter
Manama: An Indonesia domestic helper who was sentenced to death for killing the four-year-old daughter of her sponsors is to be executed on Thursday.
This comes after another Indonesian domestic helper was executed on Tuesday after being convicted of beating a Saudi woman to death in 1999.
Khalid Al Shahri, the father of Tala, the victim, said that he had been informed about the date and that the execution would take place inside the prison of the Red Sea city of Yanbu, Saudi media reported.
He added that he was not ready to discuss pardoning the helper who was sentenced to death by a Saudi court in March 2013.
The helper who had been with the family for three years used a cleaver to end Tala’s life while the father and mother were at work and the other two sisters at school.
Tala’s murder in October 2012 shook Saudi Arabia to the core and triggered a wave of sympathy with the family, especially that the father caused an accident in which two people were killed as he was rushing home to help his distraught wife, a middle school teacher in Yanbu industrial city, after she discovered the crime.
Source: Gulf News, April 16, 2015
