Saudi Arabia faces new backlash for executing migrant worker without telling Indonesian government

Ellen Manning
<em>Saudi Arabia has come under fire for executing a female migrant worker without telling the Indonesian Government (Picture: Migrant Care)</em>
Saudi Arabia has come under fire for executing a female migrant worker without telling the Indonesian Government (Picture: Migrant Care)

Saudi Arabia is facing renewed criticism after executing an Indonesian migrant worker without first telling the Indonesian Government.

Tuti Tursilawati was sentenced to death in 2011 for murdering her employer in Saudi Arabia, despite claiming she was acting in self-defence because he was abusing her.

But despite agreements about notifying government’s ahead of carrying out death penalties, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said she had been executed without any notification.

<em>The execution of Tuti Tursilawati comes amid the backlash over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (Picture: REUTERS/Osman Orsal)</em>
The execution of Tuti Tursilawati comes amid the backlash over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (Picture: REUTERS/Osman Orsal)

The move comes amid the backlash already faced by Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

According to ABC News, it comes just a week after Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, met with his Indonesian counterpart and President Joko Widodo in Jakarta to discuss migrant workers’ rights – in which it was apparently emphasised that there should be mandatory consular notification before carrying out death penalties.

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The latest execution is reportedly the fourth time Saudi Arabia has failed to provide any notice before executing an Indonesian migrant worker in the past three years.

Sharing the news, advocacy group Migrant Care said: “This case is a slap for the Indonesian Government who will conduct a ‘trial’ of the placement of 30 thousand migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in the next six months.”

The group has now called for Indonesia’s Government to cancel any agreement on migrant workers with Saudi Arabia.

In a press conference, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she had lodged an official complaint about Ms Tursilawati’s execution with Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Indonesia.