A Saudi Arabian court has spared an Indonesian maid from having her head cut off as a punishment for murder. The woman, Nasiroh, was convicted of shooting her male employer to death in 1994. She reportedly confessed to a closed court, even though Saudi police say she did not even know how to fire a gun. The wife of the victim has forgiven Nasiroh and exempted her from making a “blood money” payment. Her sentence was reduced to five years in prison.
Human and women’s rights activists and Indonesians protested the Saudi closed judicial system. Indonesian and Filipina women often work illegally in Saudi Arabia as maids and servants. There have been many reports of widespread sexual and physical abuse of the women by their Saudi employers.
