Migrant workers in Saudi on death row over ‘magic’

JAKARTA: Five Indonesian workers are facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after they were found guilty of practising what Saudi authorities consider sorcery.

“Most of them were convicted because they had a jimat (a traditional amulet) with them,” said the Foreign Ministry’s Indonesian citizen protection director, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, recently.

Many migrant workers leave Indonesia carrying a jimat as a good luck charm.

Jimat comes in many different forms, from a hair bundle put into a tiny bag to a religious verse kept in a wallet, Lalu said.

Many Muslims in Indonesia are unorthodox and do not consider

jimat to be problematic.

However, he said, Saudi authorities found such practices to be shirk (worshipping anyone or anything other than God).

In Saudi Arabia, this can result in capital punishment.

“Nonetheless, the regulation is not based on the Quran.

“Therefore, we usually manage to acquire clemency from the Saudi government,” Lalu said.

Indonesian officials usually find it harder to get clemency for those found guilty of a murder case.

“They can only be freed from the execution charge with clemency given by the victims’ family,” Lalu said. Between 2011 and 2018, 102 Indonesians faced death row in Saudi Arabia.

Three were executed, 79 were freed from execution and 20 are still in the legal process for pursuing clemency.

Of the 20, five were charged with practising magic.

A total of 583 Indonesian citizens have faced the death penalty abroad.