A Saudi couple went to Indonesia last week to meet with the Indonesian domestic worker who had been convicted of killing their 11-month-old child in 2009, and at one point was sentenced to death – but was subsequently saved from execution by the couple’s act of forgiveness.
In 2009, Masamah bint Raswa Sanusi was accused of murdering Ghalib Nasir al-Hamri al-Balawi’s 11-month-old child in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Arab News reported.
In 2014, Masamah was sentenced to five years in prison. However, the Saudi district attorney appealed against the sentence and she was sentenced to death two years later.
In March 2017, Balawi pardoned his former maid and her death sentence was commuted. She served the rest of her prison sentence and was released in January.
Masamah stayed at the Jeddah Indonesian Consulate’s shelter after her release and returned to Indonesia in March. And last Thursday, Balawi and his wife went to Indonesia and visited her at her home in Cirebon, West Java.
“I didn’t seek anything else by giving her a pardon but God’s mercy,” Balawi said through a translator.
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