Report on worker facing execution in Saudi verified
JAKARTA (JP): Reports of a female Indonesian worker who could face the death sentence if found guilty in Saudi Arabia have been confirmed by the labor supply company which sent her to the oil- rich country in 1993.
The Suara Pembaruan daily reported Sunday that the company, PT Avida Aviaduta, had identified the maid as Nasiroh binti Karnudin, 24, a Gunungbatu Sinargali villager of the Sindangbarang subdistrict in West Java's Cianjur regency.
"As the director of the company which sent her, I will be responsible and will do my best to help her," Rusjdi Bahasuan was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Rusjdi was not available for further comment yesterday.
The Jakarta Post had earlier reported, based on information from a local non-governmental organization Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity), that the maid's name was Nasimah Kasmidi.
Yesterday, a member of staff at the labor department of the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh, Nindinilla Minto, said the embassy had yet to obtain information concerning the maid.
"The information will only be available in a week, because a team from the embassy will only start checking this report this afternoon," Minto told the Post by phone.
"It will take some time because we have to check prisons, police stations, not only one place," he added.
But the Pembaruan daily reported that the embassy had been informed in 1995 by the Saudi foreign ministry about Nasiroh's imprisonment for allegedly killing her male employer in 1994.
The embassy had also sent in April 1995, according to the daily, two members of staff from its labor department to a prison in Gassim where Nasiroh was incarcerated.
Nasiroh was charged for shooting her employer, Saleh Al Senedi, in September 1994. She has yet to be tried, the report said.
Under the Saudi justice system, a guilty verdict could lead to death by beheading.
The maid reportedly shot her employer after he sexually harassed her.
Last month, an Indonesian maid, Soleha Anam Kadiran, was executed for murdering her employee.
Soleha's execution sparked uproar here, with the government strongly criticized for its slow response to the case.
A Solidaritas Perempuan migrant workers' campaigner, Arifin Moch. Nur, called on the government yesterday to be open in disclosing the plight of Indonesian workers.
"The Saudi government, as well as our government, should be open or we will continue to face the shocking news of more executions along with other problems faced by our workers there," Arifin said.
Yesterday, as reported by Antara, the Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Zarkowi Soejoeti appealed to the press to avoid publishing reports which he said could obscure information about "problematic" Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.
About half a million Indonesians work in various sectors in Saudi Arabia. This number constitutes about a quarter of all expatriate workers in the kingdom. (aan)