"The two Indonesian citizens, identified by their initials as DT and AHB, arrived today in Indonesia through the Soekarno-Hatta Airport," Director of Indonesian Citizens Protection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lalu Muhammad Iqbal noted here on a message received on Saturday.
The two Indonesians were released after serving their prison term and caning sentence at a womens penitentiary in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Iqbal revealed that DT and AHB came to Saudi before 2002 as illegal migrant workers in Jeddah.
Both had lived in an illegal settlement in Jeddah along with other illegal migrant workers.
The legal case started in May 2002 when a body of an Indonesian woman named AA was found dismembered into two pieces in the settlement.
A Thai, the victims husband, was freed from accusation charges since he was not found guilty.
Meanwhile, DT and AHB were named as suspects in a case, as they escaped from the settlement.
The two Indonesians were sentenced to death by the General Court of Jeddah on April 12, 2010.
The Indonesian government had provided legal assistance to the two Indonesians since the beginning of the case by appointing a lawyer, Al Zahrani.
A judicial review submitted by Al Zahrani was approved by the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia, and on August 24, 2014, the court changed the verdict from death sentence to five-year imprisonment and 300 lashes.
During the period between 2015 and 2017, the Indonesian government has secured the release of 144 Indonesians overseas on death row, with 21 of them in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Iqbal said, there were still 175 Indonesians facing death sentence overseas, of which 19 are in Saudi Arabia.
"The government continues to provide legal aid to Indonesians facing death penalty by complying with the local laws," Iqbal said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
