Diplomats hope for Balabagan pardon

Diplomats hope for Balabagan pardon

DUBAI (AFP): Philippine diplomats tried to determine yesterday whether young Filipina maid Sarah Balabagan was among 113 prisoners pardoned in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Balabagan was sentenced Oct. 30 to one year in prison and 100 lashes of the whip for stabbing to death her UAE employer whom she alleged had raped her, but diplomats have expressed hope she would be pardoned.

Diplomats said they have tried but were unable to confirm whether Balabagan was among the 113 prisoners pardoned by Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan al-Nahayan on Saturday to mark the UAE federation's foundation in 1971.

Officials at the prison in the oasis town of Al-Ain, where Balabagan has been held since she killed her employer in July 1994, also said they did not have a list of names of those pardoned.