Women's solidarity responds

Women's solidarity responds

I am writing in response to the letter by Saudi Arabian
Ambassador Abdullah A. Alim (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 26, 1995)
regarding the statement about the number of Indonesian workers
who died in Saudi Arabia's jails in 1994.

The statement was based on a report published by Media
Indonesia dated Jan. 2, 3, and 4, 1995. I was curious to know why
there was no response to the articles from the Saudi Arabian
government.

Although the ambassador denounced the statement as untrue, and
the exact number of the dead prisoners might not be correct, the
death of just one person is still significant and deserves a
thorough investigation. One hundred is obviously a more
impressive number. The Indonesian and Saudi governments have the
same responsibility to provide due protection to the Indonesian
migrant workers.

Therefore we call on the Saudi Arabian government to conduct
an investigation into the death of the Indonesian workers while
they were in jails in 1994. Also, as a host country, Saudi Arabia
should be sure of the workers' safety and human rights
protection.

TATI KRISNAWATY

Chairperson, Executive

Board, Women's Solidarity

for Human Rights

Jakarta