Indonesia slams Riyadh for beheading

Friday, 24 June 2011 11:19

The Indonesian president has slammed Saudi Arabia for the beheading of an Indonesian maid in the kingdom and decided to stop sending maids to the country. Saudi Arabia "broke the norms and manners of international relations" by carrying out the death sentence, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. He added that he had lodged a protest with the Saudi government over Saturday's execution of the Indonesian citizen for murder. "I decided to apply a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia, to be in effect on August 1, but starting from today, steps toward this have begun," Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by AFP. Earlier this week Indonesia recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia in protest over the execution of the 54-year-old maid Ruyati binti Sapubi, who had been convicted of killing her Saudi employer. The Indonesian maid was executed by sword. Saudi officials then dangled her corpse from a helicopter to make sure the public could see the grotesque result of the execution. Indonesian officials say the maid had been severely abused by her employers. Twenty-three Indonesians currently face execution in Saudi Arabia, where people convicted of murder are beheaded in public. Riyadh has carried out 27 beheadings so far this year. There are more than one million Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, most of them working as maids.