Amnesty International Urgent Action Indonesia Worker At Risk Of Execution
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07:14
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KORANMIGRAN, JAKARTA - 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 ma...n 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 whom 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; n 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)
+966 1 403 3125 (please keep trying) Salutation: Your Majesty
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: +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
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
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.
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