UAE/PHILIPPINES: FILIPINA MAID SARAH BALABAGAN HAS DEATH PENALTY REVOKED IN FAVOUR OF LIGHTER SENTENCE

Record ID: 640035

  • Title: UAE/PHILIPPINES: FILIPINA MAID SARAH BALABAGAN HAS DEATH PENALTY REVOKED IN FAVOUR OF LIGHTER SENTENCE
  • Date: 30th October 1995
  • Summary: AL-AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES/ MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES (OCTOBER 30, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) AL-AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (OCTOBER 30, 1995) (RTV - AVALIABLE ALL) 1. GV EXT. COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. SV/CRANE MOTHER BAI-BALANAGAN AND DAUGHTER OF MAID ARRIVE (2 SHOTS) 0.15 3. TRACK FILIPINO AMBASSADOR ARRIVING 0.22 4. SLV CARS LEAVING AFTER COURTROOM SESSION (MAID INSIDE ONE OF THE CARS) 0.30 5. SV DAUGHTER AND MOTHER STANDING ON COURT STEPS; MOTHER SAYING SHE IS VERY HAPPY THAT SARAH WILL BE RELEASED (TAGALOG) 0.48 6. SV SON OF DECEASED SAYING "I FEEL HAPPY IT'S OVER" (ENGLISH) (POOR SOUND) 0.59 7. MCU FATHER OF SARAH SAYING HE IS VERY THANKFUL TO GOD, PRESIDENT OF PHILIPPINES AND LEADER OF UAE FOR THE VERDICT (TAGALOG, WITH ENGLISH INTERPRETER) 1.39 8. SV/ZOOM SON OF DECEASED WITH BANNER AND SUPPORTERS (2 SHOTS) 1.47 AL-AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (SEPTEMBER 16)(RTV - AVAILABLE ALL) 9. SV/VARIOUS SARAH BALABAGAN ENTERING COURT/ VIEW OF COURT WITH OTHERS ENTERING (3 SHOTS) 2.13 MANILA, PHILIPPINES (OCTOBER 30, 1995) 10. GV EXTERIOR UAE EMBASSY, LARGE BANNER 2.18 11. GV/SV PEOPLE CARRYING PLACARDS DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR BALABAGAN (3 SHOTS) 2.31 12. SLV MOSLEM PROTESTERS PRAYING IN FRONT OF EMBASSY 2.40 13. SV EXT. UAE EMBASSY AND PROTESTORS 2.45 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 14th November 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES/ MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • City:
  • Country: ASIA Philippines UAE MIDDLE EAST Abu Dhabi
  • Reuters ID: LVAC970H0A1NXNVNE1EJAAVH93H2
  • Story Text: Filipina maid Sarah Balabagan on Monday (October 30) was sentenced to 100 lashes, one year in jail and deportation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on payment of blood money to the family of the man she killed.

    News of the sentence by an Islamic sharia appeal court was given by her lawyers to reporters excluded from the proceedings at Al-Ain, UAE.

    Lawyer Salman Lotfi said he expected the lashes to be light.

    The person administering them would be required to hold a book under the arm to limit the force applied.

    Another defence lawyer, Mohammed al-Amin, said the 15 months Balabagan has already spent in prison were expected to count towards the jail term.

    "I expect she will be freed within a few days," he told reporters.

    Earlier, Balabagan agreed to pay 41,000 United States (U.S.) dollars in blood money to the family of her victim, Almas Mohammed al-Baloushi, 70.

    A Philippines industrialist has already donated the money to the impoverished Balabagan family.

    Following personal intervention by UAE President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the victim's family agreed earlier this month to accept the money in exchange for dropping their insistence on her execution following a death sentence six weeks ago for premeditated murder.

    Balabagan's parents, Karim and Bai, and her four-year-old sister Samrah, were in court to hear the sentence.

    Speaking to reporters outside the court Balabagan's mother and father said they were "very pleased" and "thanked God" for the verdict.

    The news came as more than 100 Moslem men and women staged a prayer rally in front of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Manila to demand justice for Balabagan.

    Joining the Moslems were about a dozen Filipino comfort women who expressed their support for Balabagan.

    The black-clad women, carrying placards and streamers, said they sympathized with Balabagan since they too were sexually abused at the same age.

    At her first trial, Balabagan was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years imprisonment but the trial also concluded she had been raped and awarded her financial compensation.

    At a retrial ordered by UAE authorities, she was sentenced to death for premeditated murder.

    A UAE official said there had been 11 cases in the past seven years in which the family of a murder victim dropped an execution demand in exchange for blood money. The prison terms handed down in those cases ranged from three to 10 years.

    Balabagan's death sentence provoked widespread anger in the Philippines, reigniting outrage felt when another Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, was hanged in Singapore in March for double murder.

    Balabagan and her family claim she is 16. The UAE says she is 27 based on documents which Manila says were forged by illegal Filipino recruiters.


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