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INDONESIA-SAUDI-LABOUR-EXECUTION-RIGHTS
Indonesia protests Saudi execution of domestic worker
JAKARTA, Oct 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Jakarta has filed an official protest
with Saudi Arabia after the oil-rich kingdom executed an Indonesian domestic
worker without notifying her family or consular staff.
Tuti Tursilawati was executed Monday in the city of Thaif, Indonesia’s
foreign ministry said, seven years after she was sentenced to death for
killing her employer in an act she claimed was self defence from sexual
abuse.
President Joko Widodo criticised the decision Wednesday, saying the
government has officially protested to Riyadh and demanded better protection
of Indonesian workers in the country.
Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director at the foreign ministry’s Indonesian citizens
protection department, told reporters on Tuesday the move was “regrettable”.
“The execution of Tuti Tursilawati was done without notification to our
representatives, either in Riyadh or Jeddah,” he said at a press conference.
Tursilawati claimed she was acting in self defence when she killed her
employer in 2010 after he tried to rape her.
Migrant Care, an NGO advocating for the rights of Indonesian workers
abroad, condemned the execution and urged the government to take serious
diplomatic steps.
It said Indonesia should reverse its recent decision to allow a limited
number of Indonesian migrant workers to Saudi Arabia despite a 2015
moratorium banning new domestic workers from entering 21 Middle Eastern
countries.
Indonesia introduced the ban following the execution of two other
Indonesian maids by Saudi Arabia the same year.
Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all
punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islamic sharia
law.
As well as the Middle East, Indonesia also sends domestic workers to many
parts of Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and has often
complained about the treatment of its workers abroad.
A Hong Kong woman was jailed for six years for beating and starving her
Indonesian maid and keeping her prisoner, in a high-profile case that drew
attention to the abuse of domestic helpers in the financial hub.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1600 hrs