The prince expressed his willingness to help during a one-hour meeting with former President BH Habibie at the royal palace in Riyadh, Sunday, National Agency for Placement and Potection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) Chief Moh Jumhur Hidayat said in an e-mailed message to ANTARA News on Monday.
Jumhur said he had received the information from Humphrey R Djemat, spokesman of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Overseas Protection Task Force.
At the meeting with the Saudi prince, Habibie was accompanied by the Task Force`s chairman, Maftuh Basyuni, Ambassador Gatot Abdullah Mansyur, Humphrey R Djemat, Col. Otte Ruchiyat of the political, legal and security ministry.
Jumhur said the prince would help by persuading the family of the Saudi employer Tuti was accused of having murdered, Suud Malhaq Al Utaibi, to forgive her.
"Although actually the accused in a qishash (death penalty) case rarely gets forgiveness, Prince Walid expressed his willingness to help obtain forgiveness for Tuti, and he would personally check the details of the case," he said.
Habibie took part in the efforts to save Tuti`s life after being requested to by the Task Force.
Tuti is a migrant worker hailing from Cikeusik village, Sukahaji sub district, Majalengka District, West Java Province.
She had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia by PT Arunda Bayu on September 5, 2009, and had worked for the family of Suud Malhaq Al Utaibi in Thaif city.
Tuti was sentenced to death for the murder of her employer. According to reports, her employer abused her sexually during the time she was working for him. On 11 May 2010, he attempted
to rape her, but she hit him with a stick to defend herself, and he died as a result. She later fled taking with her 31,500 Reals and a watch belonging to Suud.
Durinf police questioning on May 18, 2010, Tuti, who was accompanied by a member of the Indonesian consulate general`s staff in Jidda, admitted to the murder and the theft.
Her father, Ali Warjuki alias Dudu, went to the BNP2TKI office in Jakarta on October 5, 2011, accompanied by activists from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Labor Union (SBMI), to urge the government to save Tuti from being decapitated, the standard way in Saudi Arabia to execute the death penalty.
On October 6, 2011, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to the Saudi King to ask for the King`s help in seeking forgiveness for Tuti from the victim`s relatives. Tuti is a single parent with a six-year-old child.
Habibie left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday (Dec 24) and was met by Maftuh Basyuni, the head of the Task Force on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Riyadh.
BJ Habibie met a number of important figures including Prince Al Walid bin Talal Al Saud, a very influential businessman and a nephew of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Azis Al Saud.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
