Saudis execute Filipina servant

MANILA, Philippines — A 39-year-old Filipina maid was executed earlier this week in Saudi Arabia despite protests from the Philippines, officials said Thursday.

The woman, whose name was not revealed, had been found guilty of murder, the Philippine government said. Details about her case were not made public, though an official said the Supreme Judicial Council of Saudi Arabia had refused an offer of “blood money” for her alleged crime.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs extends its deep condolences to the family of a Filipina household service worker who was executed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday,” the department said in a brief statement.

The country’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Adnan Alonto, said the embassy had offered the woman legal assistance during her trial and provided regular updates to her family in the Philippines, the Foreign Affairs Department said.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, confirmed that the woman had been executed.

“Our government extended help to this Filipino,” Panelo said. “We provided lawyers for her. It’s just unfortunate that in this unfortunate case, the Shariah law does not apply where blood money can be a reason to stop the execution.”

“We condole with the family, but we tried,” he said. “We tried very hard to help.”

The announcement came about a year after a dispute between the Philippines and another Persian Gulf state, Kuwait, after the body of a Filipina domestic worker was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment there. Her employer was later arrested.

Duterte responded with anger, barring Filipinos from taking new jobs in Kuwait and calling on those working there to return home. Kuwait later expelled the Philippine ambassador, after embassy staff members attempted what they called rescues of Filipina maids who they said had been abused.

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