Din meets UAE officials about Kartini

Din meets UAE officials about Kartini

ABU DHABI (AFP): A senior Indonesian official has met with the head of courts and the attorney general of the Guld emirate of Fujairah to plead for the life of an Indonesian maid sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

An Indonesian Embassy spokesman said Director General for Labor Placement at Indonesia's Manpower Ministry, Din Syamsuddin, "conveyed the message that the government of Indonesia is concerned over Kartini binti Karim's case and hopes the court will lighten her sentence."

Embassy official Irwan Iding said Din had "noted that Kartini has been in custody for nine months and gave birth to her baby girl in custody."

Kartini, 36, was condemned to death on Feb. 27 for alleged adultery with an Indian male.

Irwan said she gave birth a month ago and has been "taking care of her baby girl in prison, where the facilities are good."

Since the verdict, "we have been going to see her every day to give moral support," the embassy spokesman said, noting that the mission was only alerted of her case after the trial in an Islamic court.

The court in Fujairah, on the Indian Ocean coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), acquitted her Muslim Indian lover in absentia after he reportedly fled the country.

The Indonesia Embassy has also hired a lawyer for the Kartini and a translator as she does not speak the local Arabic dialect.

The court in Fujairah has postponed an appeal hearings to givemore time for both sides to discuss and study the matter further.

Din was scheduled to leave the gulf state later Wednesday evening.

But officials in Jakarta have expressed confidence that Kartini's life will be spared.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab has said he would also lend his personnal assistance in the matter and intends to visit the emirates after performing the Haj pilgrimage later this month.