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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 25 April 2024

Saudi death irks Jakarta

Joko Widodo of Indonesia said he had contacted Saudi's foreign minister to protest the kingdom’s actions

New York Times News Service New York Published 03.11.18, 08:11 AM
Indonesian President Joko Widodo

Indonesian President Joko Widodo AP picture

Indonesia is protesting Saudi Arabia’s execution this week of one of its citizens, a domestic worker, saying the kingdom failed to notify her family or the Indonesian government beforehand.

Tuti Tursilawati, a mother of one in her early 30s from Majalengka, Indonesia, was executed on Monday, seven years after she was convicted of murdering her employer in the Saudi city of Taif. A rights group, Migrant Care, has said she was defending herself from sexual assault.

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President Joko Widodo of Indonesia said on Wednesday that he had contacted Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, to protest the kingdom’s actions.

During a visit by Jubeir last week to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, foreign minister Retno Marsudi lauded the Saudi government’s commitment to better protecting the Indonesians living and working there, according to The Straits Times of Singapore.

There are about 1.5 million documented and undocumented Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia, Anis Hidayah, founder of Migrant Care, said in a phone interview from Tuti’s hometown, where officials were visiting her family to offer condolences.

Hidayah said sexual abuse, long working hours, improper housing and other mistreatment were common for women like Tuti, working abroad in private homes that are difficult to monitor. Saudi Arabia has not commented on Tuti’s execution or Indonesia’s formal protest. Tuti was the fourth Indonesian executed in Saudi Arabia since 2015.

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