SAUDI ARABIA. FILIPINA SAVED FROM BEHEADING

Sarah Dematera, a Filipina convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia, has been saved from execution through the intercession of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and the victim's family has accepted part of a total of 28 million pesos (417,000 EU) in blood money, announced Ambassador Amable Aguiluz, special envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council. Dematera, 34, had been marked for death by decapitation since November 14, 1993, when a Saudi court found the domestic helper guilty of killing her employer's wife.
Dematera maintained she was framed in the killing of the woman, which took place at her employers' home four days after she started working in Saudi Arabia in November 1992. The victim's family formally accepted 500,000 Saudi rials (104,000 EU) as a down payment during a court hearing in Dammam on May 10, the statement said. The added that Dematera would be released from prison once the rest of the money is paid, but it did not say where the money would come from. Although Aguiluz himself had to negotiate with the victim's family to accept the payment of blood money and set the amount, the statement attributed the sparing of Dematera's life to Ms Arroyo's intercession during her recent visit to Saudi Arabia, where she also obtained pardon for 138 jailed Filipino workers.