Indonesia slams Saudi maid abuse sentence

Indonesia said Wednesday a three-year jail sentence given to a Saudi woman for brutally torturing her Indonesian maid was "too light", and promised to back an appeal in the Saudi courts.

A court in the Saudi city of Medina sentenced the woman to three years in prison for stabbing, beating and burning the Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, with an iron.

Her sentence was lighter than the maximum penalty of 15 years, Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene told AFP.

"The judge there had found the employer guilty of abuse but her three-year sentence didn't fulfil a sense of justice," he said.

"Prosecutors there, with support from Sumiati's lawyer provided by the Indonesian government, have lodged an appeal."

The Saudi woman slashed Sumiati's face with scissors, scalded her with a hot iron and beat her so severely she broke the young woman's bones and caused internal bleeding.

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