Saudi tight-lipped over death penalty for Indonesian workers

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says the government of Saudi Arabia had remained silent on the fate of two Indonesian migrant workers facing the death penalty there.

Earlier, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to Saudi authorities, requesting an alternative solution for the 2 migrant workers.

"We have not received a reply yet," Marty said Thursday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Marty added that the government would do everything it could to get the 2 workers home. He added that a team led by former foreign minister Alwi Shihab had also been deployed to Saudi Arabia, in hope of being able to negotiate with Arab authorities.

House deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said the House would assist the government in dealing with the Arab authorities by through negotiations with the Arab government and parliament.

"Yesterday, it was decided at a meeting that we should assist the government in efforts to save these workers lives," he said.

At present, 2 Indonesian workers - Tuti Tursilawati of Majalengka, West Java, and Satinah binti Jumadi of Ungaran, Central Java - have been sentenced to death after found guilty over murder charges.

Source: Jakarta Post, October 14, 2011

Another RI migrant may face beheading in Saudi

An NGO says another Indonesian migrant worker, Tuti Tursilawati, has been sentenced to death by beheading after she was found guilty of murder by Saudi Arabian authorities.

“Tuti beat her employer to death after she was frequently abused. She then ran away, but was arrested by local authorities and is now in prison in Thaif, awaiting execution,” Migrant Care coordinator Wahyu Susilo said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

At present, five Indonesian migrant workers are on death row in Saudi Arabia after efforts to commute their death sentences failed, Wahyu added.

The five are Tuti Tursilawati, Tursinah, Siti Zaenab, Aminah and Darmawati.

Wahyu urged the Indonesian government to use the current momentum to ask the Saudi government to forgive Tuti and other Indonesian inmates on death row. He added that Indonesia should utilize support from the international community in efforts to see this request fulfilled.

The United Nations recently criticized Saudi Arabia for continuing to accommodate the death penalty in its legal system and furthermore for still implementing beheading as its method.

Many countries have condemned beheading as being a medieval practice that has long been abandoned by many countries.

Source: The Jakarta Post, October 13, 2011

Six RI workers face execution in Saudi Arabia

JAKARTA: Tuti Tursilawati and Satinah, the migrant workers whose cases have grabbed media attention recently, were not the only workers facing death in Saudi Arabia, a member of a House of Representatives team on migrant workers says.

“There are six of them,” Chusnunia said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Thursday.

Tuti, a resident of Majalengka, West Java, was sentenced to death by a Saudi court after she was found guilty of murdering her employer, Suud Malhaq Al Utibi, last year. Satinah was accused of killing her employer and sentenced to death in March.

Chusnunia said that information about the total number of migrant workers on Saudi Arabia’s death row resulted from a meeting between the House team and the government’s task force on migrant workers.

She added that her institution was now waiting for details of the four migrant workers.

The government must work harder to save them, she said.

Source: The Jakarta Post, October 14

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