Two More Imigrant Workers Saved from Saudi Execution

Jakarta - Two more Indonesian migrant workers, namely Neneng Sunengsih binti Mamih Ujan and Mesti binti Dama Idon, have been saved from execution in Saudi Arabia, according to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI). They left for home by Saudi Airlines from Jidda's King Abdul Azis airport on Thursday at 00.30 am local time and were expected to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta international airport, Cengkareng, near here, at 1.30 pm Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), Lisna Yoeliani, BNP2TKI's deputy chief, said here on Thurday. Lisna who is also a member of the Migrant Workers Protection Task Force said Neneng, native of Sukabumi, West Java, was freed under a warranty from her Saudi lawyer, while Mesi, also from Sukabumi, was freed following a pardon by Saudi King Abdullah. Neneng was arrested by Al Jouf police in May 2011 for allegedly killing the female baby of her employer, Asraf Roja Al Rajan, for whom she had worked for 11 months. She was also accused of trying to escape. The Indonesian embassy in Riyadh had appointed a Saudi lawyer, Naseer Al Dandani, to help free Neneng by convincing the judges that Neneng must not be blamed for the baby's death because she was not a competent person to take care of a seriously ill baby. There was no strong evidence that Neneng had killed the baby, while the Asraf family did not allow an autopsy on the baby's dead body. According to Lisna, the Task Force's chairman, Maftuh Basyuni, when he was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 24, 2011, through the lawyer, urged the Saudi authorities to free Neneng from Al Jouf prison because there was no evidence that Neneng had killed the baby deliberately. (*)