RP wants release of jailed maid

RP wants release of jailed maid

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) - The Philippine ambassador to the United Arab Emirates said yesterday he has appealed for the immediate release of a Filipina maid jailed for seven years for killing her employer.

Ambassador Roy Seneres faxed AFP a copy of a message he sent to the UAE Foreign Ministry saying he believed 16-year-old Sarah Balabagan "should have been acquitted" by a UAE court which also concluded her Emirati boss had raped her.

An Islamic court in Al-Ain sentenced Balabagan to seven years in prison and ordered her to pay blood money after convicting her of manslaughter on June 26, but it also awarded her compensation for the rape.

"The decision, utterly contradictory as it is, surprised not only Ms. Balabagan and her parents, the ambassador and the entire staff of the embassy, but virtually the entire Filipino nation," Seneres said in the June 30 letter.

Under Islamic law and UAE criminal law, "a woman has the duty to protect her honor and life against any aggressor and that the former has the right to use all force for self-defense, even to the point of killing the latter," he wrote.

Balabagan "should not be made to suffer a day more in jail having languished there for 12 months already, nor be required to pay diya (blood money) to anyone," Seneres said.