International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)...

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Saudi Arabia to spare two female housemaids, from Indonesia and the Philippines, on death row for allegedly killing their female employers. HRW said Sarah Jane Landicho Dematera of the Philippines was sentenced to death in 1993 after being forced to write and sign a dictated confession and being held incommunicado for one year. Indonesia's Siti Zaenab binti Buhri Rupa received a death sentence in 2000. Her family was not officially notified of her arrest until two months before her trial, the New York-based group said. "Neither woman had access to a lawyer or any other form of legal assistance, and consular officials were not present at their trials. Both women were convicted on the basis of confessions, a common feature of the kingdoms justice system," HRW said in a statement. The group called on Saudi Arabia to halt all executions until an independent review of death penalty cases was conducted. "Innocent people may be on death row in Saudi Arabia facing imminent execution," said Virginia Sherry, HRW's associate director for the Middle East. "The pattern of coerced confessions and the weight given to them in court in Saudi Arabia is well established," said Sherry. "If information about death penalty cases is withheld from family members and others, legal assistance not provided, and trials are not open, it's hard to have confidence in the verdicts."