Jakarta. Time is running out for Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, an Indonesian domestic worker sentenced to death for murdering her employer in Saudi Arabia.
Satinah, 41, of Ungaran, Central Java, is scheduled for beheading on April 4 if the Indonesian government fails to fork over the “blood money” requested by the deceased’s family. The central government has been in negotiations with the family of Nura al-Garib since Satinah was sentenced to death in 2010, reaching an agreement in July of last year to pay Rp 21 billion ($1.84 million) in diyat — an Arabic compensation paid to the families of victims in lieu of harsher sentences by the oil-rich kingdom’s draconian justice system.
The account is currently Rp 3 billion short, said Indonesian singer Melanie Subono — who has led the charge to raise funds for the imprisoned domestic helper. The pop singer has backed fundraising efforts for Satinah since writing about the woman on her blog last week. The woman’s plight has since inspired a Twitter hashtag (
#SaveSatinah) and a social media campaign as the clock ticked down to her scheduled execution.
“Today, Indonesian migrant workers abroad are putting aside their almost non-existent salary to get Rp 9 billion collectively, the rest of the money needed to free Satinah,” Melanie wrote in a March 19, 2014
blog post. “We did it ourselves. The silence of our government [does not help], so we started it.”
Satinah was sentenced to death for the 2007 killing of her employer, a woman the maid accused of months of physical and emotional abuse. The migrant worker said that al-Garib was reportedly attempting to smash her head into a wall when she struck the employer in the neck with a rolling pin, killing her. Satinah allegedly stole 37,970 Saudi Arabian riyal ($10,124) and fled the house before her eventual arrest.
She has admitted to killing al-Garib but said it was in self defense.
Source: The Jakarta Globe, March 24, 2014
