KUWAIT CITY, July 25: Bashar Al-Nassar, the attorney who is defending Atallah Mohammed, the alleged murderer of his Filipino wife Norhaisa Andaw, Sunday told the Arab Times it is his client who is the victim, not the criminal.
Nassar added his client has been suffering for a year after his wife left Kuwait and went to the Philippines and gave birth to their third child. To make matters worse, he went on to say, she left the children in the Philippines and returned to Kuwait to tell him she had no children from him.
The man is said to have become furious and gone into a mad frenzy when he discovered his wife was allegedly cheating on him. He said he kept a watch on her and ‘discovered’ she was having an affair with one of his friends.
Attorney Nassar added on the day of the incident, the husband was hiding near the entrance to the building where the saloon in which the wife works is located. He waited for hours until he saw her coming down the building to meet her alleged ‘friend’.
The wife exchanged some words with her ‘friend’ and he gave her KD 20 and a new cellphone with a new SIM card and told her to get rid of the old one and not to speak to her husband.
Atallah came out of his hiding place and tried to catch the man but he managed to escape in a waiting car.
Atallah came back to the building, went to the apartment in which the saloon is located and barged in. He slapped his wife and she is alleged to have verbally abused him. At this point he said he lost his mind, stabbed her four times and left.
After he was arrested, he admitted to the charge. Two witnesses are said to have testified that they were aware that the victim was involved in extramarital affairs with other men. They added they had tried in vain to convince the victim’s ‘friend’ to stay out of her life.

 Justice call for Pinay maid on Facebook
Pinoys in Kuwait air hopes on Aquino SONA
 

KUWAIT CITY, July 25: A call for justice for the Filipina household service worker whose body was found in Kabd desert last week has been launched on the social networking site Facebook, to drum up support for the speedy trial of the suspects. The victim identified by Kuwaiti authorities as Asria Samad Abdul, 34, a native of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao in Southern Philippines was allegedly tortured by her Kuwaiti employers of Egyptian descent and taken to the Kabd desert where the couple allegedly ran her over with their car to make it appear that she died in a vehicular accident.
The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, which is closely monitoring the case, disclosed that the couple who confessed to the crime is currently being detained for further investigation and a case has been filed against the suspects at the Ahmadi Court.

The page “Justice for Asria Samad Abdul” on Facebook was created by a Dubai-based Filipino journalist, Ares Gutierrez after coming across the story on the Arab Times website.
“I came across the case when the Gulf News bureau chief in Bahrain filed the story and I was assigned to go through it. What struck me the most was the manner in which the victim was killed. I was visualizing her last moments and it really disturbed me. I searched for the main source of the story which led me to the Arab Times website and I immediately sent the link to friends in Manila as well as an NGO that was said to champion migrant workers rights. I wanted to bring the case to light through the social media and it has so far managed to raise the awareness level,” disclosed Gutierrez on Sunday to the Arab Times. Gutierrez works as a copy editor at the Gulf News in Dubai.

He explained that the main objective of the group is to help seek justice for Asria Samad Abdul. “We’ve seen countless cases of migrant workers — mostly household service workers — being maltreated, abused and subjected to inhumane conditions not only in Kuwait but elsewhere in the Middle East and in some parts like Hong Kong and Singapore. This has to stop somewhere, somehow. We’ll try to monitor the case and run updates. We’ll utilize Facebook which has become a powerful and influential communications tool” he stressed.

Gutierrez along with two colleagues, Ding Gagelonia, a Filipino journalist and Susan Ople, a migrant workers advocate are the administrators of the Facebook group. Currently, the Justice for Asria Samad Abdul on Facebook has already 110 members across the globe and more are signing up daily.
“My heart pours out for Asria’s soul and to her grieving family in the Philippines,” wrote Kathleen Deocampo Luntao on the group’s wall.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs said it has authorized the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait to hire a private law firm. Perhaps in this particular case and in all similar cases of maltreatment, abuse, and murder — we should now tap international agencies such as the UNCHR and ILO if only to illustrate the point — that  domestic helpers have rights; that foreign workers deserved to be employed only by mentally and emotionally fit employers; that slavery of all forms must end!” wrote Susan Ople, President of Blas F. Ople Policy Center - a non-stock, nonprofit organization engaged in helping distressed OFWs, providing journalism scholarships, and donating school shoes to poor children.

Meanwhile, Filipinos in Kuwait expressed optimism that the newly elected Philippine President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III who is set to deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, will look into the plight of the OFWs and issues affecting them.

“We don’t want to hear mere empty promises just like past administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We need concrete steps and lasting solutions to the woes of OFWs. Most importantly, we need to hear from the President’s SONA, the government’s commitment to upholding the rights of migrant workers,” outlined Jasper Bryan Loma, an OFW who has been working in Kuwait for two decades now.