Authorities: Filipina domestic worker executed in Saudi Arabia

Filipina, January 31, 2019, (Source: CNN) —

A Filipina domestic worker has been executed in Saudi Arabia, according to the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The 39-year-old woman had been found guilty of murder and sentenced to death after the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council determined that the case could not be settled with “blood money” under Sharia law, the DFA statement says. No other details were provided.

Blood money is a legal mechanism under Sharia law, through which the accused pays a sum to the relatives of the victim.

The sentence was carried out Tuesday, according to the Philippines’ Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Adnan Alonto.

The ambassador said that the woman had been provided consular assistance throughout her trial, including the provision of a lawyer and consular visits, and that the country’s government had provided her family with updates to her case.

There are an estimated 2.3 million Filipinos working overseas, according to the government’s latest statistics. Saudi Arabia remains the region with the highest percentage of overseas Filipino workers, with just over a quarter of the total employed in the Gulf country.

It is not the first time the kingdom has executed overseas foreign domestic workers. In 2015, it executed two Indonesian maids in a week despite protests from Jakarta.

SOURCE: CNN