Another RI migrant may face beheading in Saudi

An NGO says another Indonesian migrant worker, Tuti Tursilawati, has been sentenced to death by beheading after she was found guilty of murder by Saudi Arabian authorities.

“Tuti beat her employer to death after she was frequently abused. She then ran away, but was arrested by local authorities and is now in prison in Thaif, awaiting execution,” Migrant Care coordinator Wahyu Susilo said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

At present, five Indonesian migrant workers are on death row in Saudi Arabia after efforts to commute their death sentences failed, Wahyu added.

The five are Tuti Tursilawati, Tursinah, Siti Zaenab, Aminah and Darmawati.

Wahyu urged the Indonesian government to use the current momentum to ask the Saudi government to forgive Tuti and other Indonesian inmates on death row. He added that Indonesia should utilize support from the international community in efforts to see this request fulfilled.

The United Nations recently criticized Saudi Arabia for continuing to accommodate the death penalty in its legal system and furthermore for still implementing beheading as its method.

Many countries have condemned beheading as being a medieval practice that has long been abandoned by many countries.