Indonesian maid arrives in Indonesia, spared from Saudi Execution after 4 million riyals payment

Last updated on May 6th, 2021 at 10:20 am

Etty binti Toyib, an Indonesian migrant worker on death row for murder conviction in Saudi Arabia arrived at Soekarno-Hatta airport, Tangerang, Monday, July 7.

She is an Indonesian migrant worker from Majalengka, West Java who escaped the death sentence in Saudi Arabia because she paid 4 million riyals or Rp. 15.5 billion in blood money to the kinfolk of the victim.

“I’m so happy to finally arrive in Indonesia. It was a very unpleasant experience to be locked up for 18 years and I really miss Indonesia, “Etty told reporters.

Earlier, Etty was charged with causing the death of his employer, Faisal al-Ghamdi, on charges of poisoning the employer. She was convicted in 2001 because of that case and sentenced to death.

But Etty was denied any wrongdoing when she spoke to Indonesian journalists and said she was convicted because of “miscommunication”.

People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Chairman Jazilul Fawaid came to the airport to pick up Eti binti Toyib.

Jazilul said, after such a long and convoluted process, Eti could finally be free from the death penalty after the Indonesian Government with support from various groups.

According to Jazilul, initially, the employer’s heirs asked the compensation fund, or diyya in Islamic terms for 30 million reals or Rp107 billion to be forgiven and not executed.

But, after being bargained with various approaches, the employer’s family forgave Etty and the heirs finally agreed to be paid for diyya for Rp.15.2 billion.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ budget is not enough to pay off for all diyya. But, there were many fundraisers in 2018-2019 from Indonesia’s largest Islamic mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama, ASN West Java Provincial Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and individual funder.