http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article318370.ece
Sumiati's sponsor freed on bail, to face retrial By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS Published: Mar 15, 2011 23:15 Updated: Mar 15, 2011 23:15 JEDDAH: A judge in Madinah on Tuesday ordered the release on bail of the Saudi sponsor of Indonesian maid Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, who was allegedly tortured by the woman. Ahmed Al-Rashid, lawyer of the defendant, said the judge's decision to look into the case again came as a result of certain reasons, mainly that he should have waited for the judgment in the civil suit before issuing his verdict in the criminal case. The lawyer also said the judge failed to take the oath from the defendant. Al-Rashid said the judge took hasty measures before studying all aspects of the crime. "The judge should have looked into the case on the basis of Shariah instead of the law that was enacted to combat human trafficking. My client has nothing to do with the second law," the lawyer said. According to him, the law applies only to those persons who have strong influence and power to attack individuals, like violation of human rights. The Human Rights Commission in the Kingdom had appointed a lawyer to follow up Sumiati's case after it had strongly denounced the torture that she had been suffered at the hands of her sponsor. In January 2011, Sumiati, 23, appeared before the court and accused her Saudi employer of stabbing, beating and burning her. Sumiati's employer was arrested subsequently. During the hearing, the Saudi woman "denied everything, saying that the maid had beat herself," an Indonesian consulate official said. However, when the judge was shown the photos of the injuries, he reportedly admitted them as conclusive evidence proving the Indonesian woman was tortured by her employer. The Labor Ministry had also expressed its deep regret over the incident. "We are closely following the case," the ministry said in a statement. However, the ministry pointed out that such incidents are rare in the Kingdom. Hattab Al-Anazi, spokesman of the ministry, said his organization does not ignore labor disputes. "These are isolated incidents. There are more than 670,000 maids working in Saudi households. They receive all their rights. But we cannot deny that some excesses have taken place for which individual employers are responsible," he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
