URGENT APPEAL for Indonesian maid Tuti Tursilawati, 27, at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia

An Indonesian domestic worker may be at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia. She may have exhausted all her appeals and could be executed as early as November.

Tuti Tursilawati, aged 27, was sentenced to death for the murder of her employer. She reportedly arrived in Saudi Arabia on 5 September 2009 to work for a man in the city of Ta'if, in the western province of Mecca. According to reports, her employer abused her sexually during the time she was working for him: on 11 May 2010, he attempted to rape her; she hit him with a stick to defend herself, and he died as a result. She fled and was allegedly raped by nine men. She was subsequently arrested by the police in Ta’if. No investigation was reported to have taken place into the alleged rape.

Tuti Tursilawati was sentenced to qisas (retribution in kind) in around June 2011. She was reported not to have had a lawyer during the first two months of her trial but only an interpreter. It is unclear as to what her status is and whether she has exhausted all remedies to challenge her sentence. The dead man's family have reportedly appealed to the court authorities for the implementation of the death penalty after the end of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) period, which is expected to end around 4-9 November. Under Saudi Arabian law, those found guilty of murder are often sentenced to qisas. In these cases, the relatives of the victim have the power to seek execution, request diya (financial compensation) or grant a pardon.

An Indonesian domestic worker was executed on 18 June 2011 without her family being informed beforehand. Since the end of the holy month of Ramadan, executions have resumed in Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate, with 19 people executed so far in October alone, 10 of who were foreign nationals.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

- Urging the King of Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of Tuti Turilawati;

- Calling on the King to commute the sentences of all those under sentence of death as a matter of urgency, with a view to abolishing the death penalty;

- Reminding the authorities that they should act in accordance with international standards for fair trial, including the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, which state that Capital Punishment may only be imposed after a fair trial in which the defendant is provided with "adequate legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings".

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 1 DECEMBER 2011 TO:

King

His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques

Office of His Majesty the King

Royal Court, Riyadh

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) 011 966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying)

Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior

His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

Ministry of the Interior

P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road

Riyadh 11134

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Fax: 011 966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying)

Salutation: Your Royal Highness

And copies to:

President, Human Rights Commission

Bandar Mohammed 'Abdullah al-Aiban

Human Rights Commission

P.O. Box 58889, King Fahad Road

Building No. 373, Riyadh 11515

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Email: hrc@haq-ksa.org

Salutation: Your Majesty

Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia

601 New Hampshire Ave. NW

Washington DC 20037

Fax: 1 202 944 5983

Email: info@saudiembassy.net

Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In Saudi Arabia vulnerable individuals have faced discrimination in the criminal justice system. Foreign nationals have had the death penalty applied to them disproportionately. Many of those executed in recent years have been foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from poor and developing countries. Despite a decrease in executions in the last few years, there has been a marked increase in executions this year, with 19 people executed so far in October alone. From January 2011, at least 67 people have been executed, more than double the number of people executed in the whole of 2010. Of those executed, 22 were foreign nationals and four were women. Amnesty International is seriously concerned about over 100 prisoners who are currently known to be under sentence of death in Saudi Arabia.

At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007. In 2008 some 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals, were executed. In 2009, at least 69 people are known to have been executed, including 19 foreign nationals, and in 2010 at least 27 people were executed, six of them foreign nationals.

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by lawyers, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of “confessions” obtained under duress or deception.

In a report published in October 2008 on the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International highlighted the extensive use of this punishment as well as the disproportionately high number of executions of foreign nationals from developing countries. For further information please see Saudi Arabia: Affront to Justice: Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia (Index: MDE 23/027/2008), 14 October 2008: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/saudi-arabia-executions-target-foreign-nationals-20081014

Source: Amnesty International, October 23, 2011

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