29 repatriated Pinays leave KSA for home

At least 29 jailed Filipino women who benefited from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) government's amnesty program have already left Riyadh for the Philippines. The Philippine Embassy said the Filipinas were inmates of the Al-Nisa prison in Riyadh, and that either their employers or the Saudi government paid for their plane tickets. “The inmates were women charged with petty crimes that are covered by the amnesty. Their crimes included theft and immorality," an embassy official said in an interview posted early Thursday on news site Arab News. According to the embassy official, some of the offenders had served their sentences and had no private liabilities, which means that their employers had not claimed any damages. Meanwhile, militant OFW group Migrante Middle East called on the embassy to include the names of 50 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) recommended for royal pardon. “These OFWs detained at the Al-Hail jail were charged with petty crimes, and some of them have served their jail sentences," Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said. He requested the Philippine Embassy to provide them an update on who had been granted pardon, who have been cleared and whose cases are still being heard. — LBG, GMA News