Emir assures reduced sentence for Ranario
The Emir of Kuwait assured President Arroyo that the prison term of convicted overseas Filipino worker Marilou Ranario will be reduced every year until she can be released, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said yesterday.
Romulo said the government is pinning its hopes on the promise made by Emir Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah to reduce the prison term of Ranario every national day celebrated by
“Every national day, (the Emir) will see to it that her confinement will be reduced until she can be released,” Romulo said.
Ranario was sentenced to death for killing her female employer on
The
The Kuwait’s Court of Cassation, which is equivalent to the Philippine Supreme Court, upheld Ranario’s conviction and death sentence even after the acceptance of diyah (blood money) and granting of tanazul (forgiveness) by the victim’s family.
The victim’s estranged husband, however, did not accept the blood money since they had already been separated for 15 years.
The victim’s mother, two brothers and a sister accepted the blood money in forgiveness of Ranario.
The emir, on the other hand, was said to have waited three months to sign the death warrant. Under Kuwaiti law, only the emir has the authority to reduce the sentence of a convicted person.
On Dec. 9, the Kuwaiti emir commuted the sentence of Ranario after a meeting with President Arroyo and other Philippine government officials. – Pia Lee-Brago
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