British Lord wants to save Dalquez from death row

Inderjit Singh, Lord of Wimbledon CBE said in his letter addressed to UAE Ambassador Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui that,”It is clear from the evidence that her action was not pre-meditated, but a desperate response to an unprovoked sexual attack. I am writing to you to use your good offices to remove the threat of the death penalty and for the authorities to show due clemency.”(Photo: UK Parliament Website)

MANILA–A member of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords or upper parliament has called on the government of the United Arab Emirates to grant clemency to Jennifer Dalquez, an overseas Filipino worker in the death row.

Inderjit Singh, Lord of Wimbledon CBE said in his letter addressed to UAE Ambassador Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui that,”It is clear from the evidence that her action was not pre-meditated, but a desperate response to an unprovoked sexual attack. I am writing to you to use your good offices to remove the threat of the death penalty and for the authorities to show due clemency.”

An excerpt of the letter was posted on the website of Network of Sikh Organizations, the British-registered charity that Singh chairs.

The same post contains a statement from the pro-migrant worker group Justice For Domestic Workers (J4DW), which described Dalquez, 30, as another “victim of gross inhumane abuse and injustice faced by migrants in the Gulf states.”

Dalquez was sentenced to death for killing her employer on May 20, 2015. She insisted it was self defense as her employer, armed with a knife, allegedly tried to rape her.

The Court of Appeals in Al Ain deferred to April 12 its ruling on Dalquez’s execution after one of the victim’s children failed to show up on a scheduled hearing.

Dalquez could be saved from execution if the victim’s two children will opt for the payment of blood money.