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SAUDI ARABIA: OFW IN DEATH ROW FINALLY FREED
April 9, 2012: A Filipino overseas contract worker who has been facing execution in a jail in Saudi Arabia for the last 12 years has finally gained freedom.
In an email sent via his cellphone, Rodelio “Dondon” Lanuza, 39, announced his freedom after the payment of some P35 million raised by his supporters as blood money for the family of a Saudi national he had killed allegedly in self-defense way back in 2000.
Lanuza has become a social networking celebrity after he and his supporters launched in his Facebook account a campaign called “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko” to raise the blood money demanded by the family of his victim.
Last year, the Saudi Reconciliation Committee (SRC) announced that Lanuza could be saved from execution if blood money was paid to the family of his victim.
The SRC, whose executive chairman is Dr. Nasser Bin Mesfir Al- Zahrani, is credited with saving the lives of 173 people sentenced to death since its inception in 2008. Its mission is to prevent haggling by the families of the murder victims over blood money or “diya.”
In the case of Lanuza, the eldest child of the aggrieved family determined the amount of “diya” with the other option to otherwise have Lanuza beheaded.
Lanuza thanked the Saudi Reconciliation Committee, even as he also expressed gratitude to Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz bin Al-Saud for “closely monitoring my case.”
He also thanked Filipino-American philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis. “She, being a model of sincerity a God-fearing woman and the epitome of a Filipina for a just cause was the moving hand towards my appeal to influential and common people alike to push my case forward,” he said.
“How can I forget former Ambassador Antonio Villamor who even after his retirement, pursued my case without haste and saw it through to the final negotiations. You have been the father who looked after me even if I was at times a hard case,” he also said.
Lanuza was also thankful “to the Philippine government through its branches, the Philippine Embassy and DFA (Department of Foreign Affair) staffs and to Undersecretary Rafael Seguis for being there during the penultimate negotiations.”
He also cited Migrante Middle East “through its representative John Monterona for driving my case to the government’s attention that have inspired me to no end to be alive. (Sources: punto.com.ph, 09/04/2012)
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