Saudi death penalty angers Indonesia

This video is called Indonesian Maids Suffer Violent Abuse In Saudi Arabia.

From Al Jazeera:

Indonesian ban on workers to Saudi Arabia

Moratorium from August 1 reflects Jakarta’s anger over maid’s execution in kingdom last week.

Last Modified: 23 Jun 2011 10:50

Indonesia has barred its citizens from travelling to Saudi Arabia to work, amid a spat with Riyadh over the beheading of an Indonesian maid in the kingdom for alleged murder.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, on Thursday condemned the beheading and accused Riyadh of breaking the “norms and manners” of international relations.

“I decided to apply a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia, to be in effect on August 1, but starting from today, steps toward this have begun” he said in a live TV address.

The moratorium will apply “until Indonesia and Saudi Arabia can come to an agreement to give rights necessary for Indonesian workers,” he added.

He said Jakarta was considering applying a similar ban to other Gulf states where human rights activists say migrant workers also face abuse and exploitation.

Yudhoyono’s comments reflect Indonesia’s growing anger over the abuse and maltreatment that many of its citizens have to endure while working in the Gulf countries.

Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was executed by sword after being convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid, with a meat cleaver for not being granted leave to visit home.

Furious over her execution, Jakarta has recalled its ambassaor to Saudi Arabia for “consultations”.

The execution also prompted calls from Indonesian rights activists for the scrapping of the death penalty. Indonesia carries out executions by firing squad.

There are about 1.2 million Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, most of them working as maids, who are a valuable source of foreign exchange reserves and help reduce unemployment in Southeast Asia’s leading economy.

Twenty-three Indonesians currently face execution in Saudi Arabia, where people convicted of murder are beheaded in public.

According to the BBC, Ruyati binti Sapubi said that her employer had abused her.

Daniel Lippman, McClatchy Newspapers: “This year’s harsh crackdown on Shiite Muslims in Bahrain follows the playbook that Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia used against Shiites in its own Eastern Province as recently as two years ago, secret State Department cables show. Some of the officials named in the cables as responsible for the 2009 Eastern Province crackdown now are advising Bahrain’s leaders. Among the topics the cables discuss are the arbitrary arrests of Shiite clerics and residents, the closing of Shiite mosques and the blocking of Shiites from an important religious site in the Muslim holy city of Medina. The cables provide rare documentation of what human rights officials have long thought is a persistent campaign waged against Shiites in Saudi Arabia by their own government”: here.

Britain: Our lawyers have written to the government questioning its failure to revoke arms exports to Saudi Arabia: here.

U.S. Jews Not Able To Fly On Delta Flights To Saudi Arabia: here.

Antiwar Blog: Riyadh Eyes the Nuke: here.

UN Challenges Slavery Conditions for Domestic Workers: here.

Currently, there are thousands of Pakistani workers living in the UAE, where they face poor living and working conditions, international labor organizations have reported: here.