Nasiroh escapes death after victim's family forgives her

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian worker Nasiroh Karmudin escaped death yesterday after a Saudi Arabian court decided to free her from execution because the family of the victim she admitted to have killed forgave her, an official says.

Gaffar Fadyl, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Indonesian Ambassador in Riyadh, Zarkowi Soejoeti, informed Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas that negotiations between representatives of the two sides concluded yesterday afternoon with the decision of the victim's family to forgive Nasiroh.

Those involved in the talks were the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh, representatives of the Gassim City Court which tried Nasiroh, her brother, a representative of the labor export company that recruited her, and the family of the victim.

"We have been informed that one of the victim's wives has forgiven Nasiroh and did not ask for diyat (blood money)," Gaffar said.

"With the declaration of forgiveness from (the family), Nasiroh is free from qishash (an Islamic law that stipulates punishment equal to the crime committed, including death for a death)," he told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview last night.

"However, she would still have to complete her five-year prison term. She should be released by September next year," Gaffar said further.

"This (Nasiroh's release) is the success of an Indonesian effort through legal and diplomatic channels as well as through an inter-family approach," he said.

The development was the climax of weeks of outcry over Nasiroh's case. The 24-year-old girl from West Java was jailed since 1994 for murdering her employer, whom she said had repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

More than 400,000 Indonesians are working in Saudi Arabia.

Nasiroh's fate was first revealed by Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity), a women's rights group that up to yesterday was still staging demonstrations asking the government to do what it could to save her from the death penalty.

Still reeling over the shocking news of the beheading of Soleha Anam Kadiran in Mecca last month for a similar crime, local communities immediately raised an uproar over Nasiroh's case.

Yesterday, Solidaritas Perempuan called on the 54 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference to ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers' Rights and to set up a special committee on migrant workers' rights protection. (swe/amd/09)

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