STOP EXECUTION!!!
 |
| Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso (Pic: www.thestar.com) |
All India Council of
Christian Women (AICCW), Women's Wing of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) has sent an appeal to the Respected President of Indonesia Joko Widodo to save the life of Mary
Jane Fiesta Veloso.
The 30-year-old
Filipina is on death row in Indonesia. This Filipino woman, convicted of alleged drug
trafficking, has been transferred to a detention center on Indonesia’s
Nusakambangan Island, where she awaits execution by firing squad on 28th April
2015, Tuesday.
Veleso was subject to sexual
abuse and ‘almost raped’ as she says by her employer when she was working as
domestic worker in Dubai and she came to Philippines. When she was looking for
job again she was tricked by her neighbour/family friend and her boyfriend.
Veloso, in her hand written statement, mentions that a neighbor and family friend in the Philippines asked if she would like to work as a domestic servant in Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur. According to the statement, the friend offered to pay for Veloso’s airplane ticket in exchange for two months’ salary once Veloso started her new job. As per her statement, she was later tricked by her friend and her boyfriend to go to Indonesia and was given a suitcase for clothes. Drugs were discovered in the lining of the suitcase by airport security staff in Indonesia.(Source: /www.abc.net.au/news/)
We pray to the Government of Indonesia to
understand the plight of women migrant workers who leave their
motherland, family and loved ones to be domestic slaves.
We are all aware of the plight
of these migrant workers working as domestic workers.
Many of migrant women workers are tricked
or trafficked to be drug mules by traffickers and mafias. Many others face injustice and sexual abuse at the hands of the employers and are exploited by agents.
We know that Indonesia has very progressive laws to protect victims of human
trafficking and we want to save the life of this woman.
We appeal to the Indonesian government to
understand that death penalty and capital punishment cannot solve drug-related
crimes.
Even Secretary-General of UN Ban Ki-Moon, on 25 April 2015, appealed to the
Government of Indonesia to refrain from carrying out the execution as
announced, of ten prisoners on death row for alleged drug-related crimes, and
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso is one of them.
According to a statement released by his Spokesperson, the
Secretary-General of UN recalled that under international law, if the death penalty is to be
used at all, it should only be imposed for the most serious crimes, namely
those involving intentional killing, and only with appropriate safeguards. “Drug-related offenses generally are not considered to
fall under the category of “most serious crimes,” said the
Spokesperson's statement adding that the United Nations opposes the death penalty in all circumstances
and he concluded with a call by the Secretary-General on President Joko Widodo
of Indonesia to urgently consider declaring a moratorium on capital punishment
in Indonesia, with a view toward abolition. (Source:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story)
AICCW prays to President of Indonesia “humanitarian
consideration" in the case of this migrant domestic worker.
AICCW appeals to the Churches in Indonesia and Indonesian Church leaders
even in last few hours to engage in advocacy and persuade the government to
save the life of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso and
halt her execution. AICCW is praying for God of Life ‘El Roi’ to see the pain
of this woman and give her life. For God is God of
life and this young Filipina mother also have the ‘Right to Life in its Fullness’.
Dr. Saramma Varghese
President – AICCW
Moumita Biswas
Executive Secretary-AICCW
