Zarina gives birth to baby girl

JAKARTA (JP): Jailed Zarina Mirafsur gave birth to a healthy baby girl weighing 2.8 kilograms at Tangerang Hospital at 12:50 p.m. on Saturday.

"The baby's very fair and has cute, slanty eyes. She's just beautiful and we hope the best for her," Zarina's sister Zamila said on Sunday.

Her sister, Zamila said, suffered severe labor pains which lasted not more than an hour, after which she underwent a painful caesarean operation.

"Zarina has not been able to sleep a wink since the birth due to the pains," she said.

None of Zarina's relatives, including Zamila, were willing to name the father of the newly born girl.

Zarina, also known as Zarima, was dubbed the Ecstasy Queen by the media after being arrested with some 30,000 ecstasy pills four years ago.

She was out on probation when the unmarried woman was arrested again in October last year for another drug offense. The same court then sentenced her to three months in jail late in June this year.

Zarina's father Mirafsur Khan was happy with the birth of his grandchild, and was only willing to talk about the baby.

"Neither I nor Rina have thought of any good names yet," he said when contacted on Sunday.

Separately, a close friend of Zarina's family said that the caesarean section was a ploy by Zarina to stay in hospital for two weeks, instead of the normal few days granted to a new mother.

"It is one of her ploys. She's just sick of being in jail," the person, who requested anonymity, said. (ylt)