RP Moslems urge UAE to free maid

RP Moslems urge UAE to free maid

MANILA (Reuter): Filipino Moslem students urged the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday to free Filipina maid Sarah
Balabagan, sentenced to death by firing squad for killing her
Arab employer.

"We do not want to believe that Sarah's case is a case of
power relations between the poor, helpless countries and rich,
powerful countries," a statement by the Muslem Youth Student
Alliance (MYSA) said.

It was distributed during a rally held in front of the
Emirates' embassy in Manila's financial district.

Balabagan, whom Manila says is 16 but the UAE says is 27 based
on documents the Philippines believes are forged, was sentenced
on Saturday by an Islamic court for killing her Gulf Arab
employer Almas Mohammed al-Baloushi.

The court rejected her plea that she stabbed him 34 times in
self-defense after he raped her and said the rape had nothing to
do with her plan to murder her employer.

"The number of times she stabbed her rapist should be
immaterial. She was sexually harassed at gunpoint, enough for a
Moslem woman to fight for her life," the MYSA statement said.

The group of around 20 students claimed Balabagan was a victim
of poverty in the southern island of Mindanao.

"Sarah serves as a representative of many Moslem youths who
travel to foreign lands to gain employment," the statement said.

Another UAE court had previously sentenced the maid to seven
years in jail after concluding she was raped.

UAE President Sheikh Zaid Bin Sultan al-Nahayan ordered a
retrial after Manila lobbied for her acquittal, which ended with
the second court condemning her to face the firing squad.

The sentence provoked an uproar similar to that which swept
the Philippines in March after another maid, Flor Contemplacion,
was hanged in Singapore for a double murder to which she
confessed.

More than 4.2 million Filipinos work overseas, many of them in
menial jobs and the estimated US$6.0 billion which they send home
annually is a vital source of livelihood for some of the poorest
families in this country of 68 million people.

President Fidel Ramos urged Filipinos on Wednesday to remain
calm and said his government was doing everything it could to
save Balabagan.

The maid's lawyer has already filed a notice of appeal before
the UAE court and Ramos said he is dispatching three top
ministers to the UAE to plead for her life.