Kartini granted clemency by UAE court

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian migrant worker Kartini binti Karim narrowly escaped death row after the Islamic high court in the United Arab Emirates town of Fujairah granted her appeal for clemency recently, foreign minister Alwi Shihab said on Monday.

Alwi, who went to UAE and several other Gulf countries last week, said the 35-year-old woman would be allowed to return to her home in Karawang, West Java in the near future.

"The case has been settled. Insya Allah (God willing) she will come back to Indonesia," Alwi said.

Kartini, who has been employed in UAE since February 1998, was sentenced on Feb. 28, 2000 to be stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery with her Indian colleague Muhammad Sulaiman Frangoan. She gave birth to a baby five months ago.

Frangoan reportedly fled the Middle East country after the incident in June last year.

Kartini later admitted to her lawyers that she was a rape victim.

Alwi said he didn't know whether the clemency would result in her acquittal from all charges or a reduction in her jail term.

"We only know that she has been serving her jail time for nine months. She could be freed soon," Alwi said.

Kartini was the latest Indonesian migrant worker to face capital punishment. In 1997 Nasiroh Karmudin won a clemency from a court in Saudi Arabia that sentenced her to death for murdering her employee.

Previously another Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia was beheaded for a similar crime.

Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu said recently nine more Indonesian migrant workers are facing execution in Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore for various charges.

Alwi suggested that people avoid giving Kartini a heroine's welcome when she arrives home.

"She doesn't deserve it. She has committed an offense that is considered a sin by any religion," he said. (dja)