>
An Indonesian maid has been executed in Saudi Arabia for killing her boss while he was raping her. The execution has sparked outrage in Jakarta, the country’s capital.
Tuti Tursilawati who was working in the city of Ta’if, was found guilty of killing her employer in June 2011.
Ms Tursilawati was killed in the city of Ta’if, in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca Province on Monday without informing her family or consular staff.
Indonesian President President Joko Widodo called Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, demanding to know why Jakarta had not been informed about Monday’s execution of the mother-of one.
It was the fourth time in three years that Saudi Arabia had failed to notify Jakarta before executing an Indonesian migrant worker.
“We have called Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and conveyed our protest,” Mr Widodo was quoted by the office of his cabinet secretary.
“The Saudi ambassador to Indonesia had been summoned to discuss the matter”. the president said.
Indonesian advocacy group Migrant Care said in September that Ms Tuti Tursilawati had been defending herself from being raped. The office of the cabinet secretary cited the Migrant Care assertion.
A member of Indonesia’s Parliament, Abidin Fikri said Saudi Arabia has ignored the principles of human rights.
He said: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ignored principles of human rights, including a right for everyone to live.”
Ms Tursilawati was executed just a week after al-Jubeir, met his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, and Mr Widodo in Jakarta to discuss migrant workers’ rights.
During the meeting, Mr Marsudi emphasised the importance of having a mandatory consular notification before carrying out death penalties.
Saudi is the world’s biggest destination for Indonesian maids. The two countries signed a new agreement to jointly ‘supervise, monitor, and evaluate’ the workers earlier this month.
After the execution, the executive director at Migrant Care advocacy group, Wahyu Susilo, called on Indonesia’s government to cancel the agreement.
“It turned out that Indonesia’s request [to protect the rights of migrant workers] was ignored by executing Tuti.”
Mr Susilo condemned the execution and urged the President to take serious diplomatic steps to prevent future uninformed executions.
There are currently 18 Indonesian migrant workers on death row in Saudi Arabia.
An Indonesian migrant worker, Muhammad Zaini Misrin, was executed in March this year for killing his employer.