Sharia expert sought in Saudi OFW rape-slay case

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Relatives of rape-slay victim Rauda Mamison Sabdullah want the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to tap Filipino Sharia experts to monitor the prosecution of her Pakistani and Lebanese attackers now both imprisoned in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said Thursday he will personally request the central office of the DFA to look into the prosecution of the culprits, who were arrested based on the testimony of the victim which Jeddah policemen had extracted just before she passed away due to injuries.

"We need to have Filipino Sharia experts to help observe the prosecution proceedings. I hope the DFA can provide even just one," Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu said he also supports the rejection of the victim’s parents of the “dam,” a monetary settlement, offered by the suspects for them to be exonerated from any criminal liability.

"They committed a very serious offense so they must pay for it based on Saudi Arabia's Sharia justice system," Mangudadatu told reporters.

Municipal councilor Anwarudin Kuit Emblawa, uncle of the slain 44-year-old Sabdullah, said policemen in Jeddah have arrested a Pakistani and a Lebanese who were both implicated in the crime.

Emblawa, an incumbent member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Datu Abdullah Sangki, said the victim was first reported as missing on April 3.

“Her badly injured body was found on April 10 in a garbage dumpsite somewhere in Jeddah,” Emblawa said.

Investigators had managed to talk to the victim before she succumbed to her injuries in a hospital, leading them to the whereabouts of her attackers. 

Mangudadatu said the rejection by Sabdullah's parents of the "blood money" would mean they would have to be prosecuted according to Sharia jurisprudence.