“Although Kuwaiti court has lifted the death sentence slapped on Dolma, she has still to serve her jail sentence,” Hamid Ansari, Nepal´s Ambassador at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, told myrepublica.com over telephone on Sunday. “We are trying to get her released at the earliest."Ansari also said that they would petition the Kuwaiti government to include Dolma in the list of prisoners who will be getting general amnesty at the end of the month of Ramadan which will be in August next year. "For this, we need the help of everyone back home."
The death sentence was lifted after the government of Nepal gave US $10,000 in blood money to the Filipino family.
“I am so happy, dai. Many thanks,” Dolma told her friend Mitra Sinjali, after being informed last Tuesday that her death sentence had been lifted.
Sinjali, a restaurateur in Kuwait, was given responsibility by the government of Nepal to be the contact person in Dolma’s case.
“With Nepali officials, I met Dolma three months ago,” Sinjali told myrepublica.com in a telephone conversation on Saturday. “She was very upset back then. But when we informed her about the new decision by the court (last Tuesday), she was ecstatic. She said she wants to return to Nepal and meet her family.”
Dolma, 27, who is from Kyansinbasi, Gumba VDC-8, Sindhupalchowk, was handed the death sentence on charges of killing a woman who worked in her employer’s house.
Evidence collected by the police additionally found Dolma guilty of the crime. DNA in a strand of hair lifted from the deceased’s palm matched Dolma’s.
The Nepali diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia, which also looks after Kuwait, was unaware of Dolma’s five month imprisonment. After Kuwaiti newspapers reported the death sentence, one Raju Nagpal wrote an e-mail from Kuwait to Maiti Nepal’s Uma Tamang, informing her about the matter.
“In June 2008, Raju Nagpal wrote the e-mail to me. After collecting more information, we campaigned for sparing Dolma’s life,” Tamang said.
Ang Kaji Sherpa of the Himali Democratic Republican Forum, however, complained that Maiti Nepal didn’t respond quickly enough, “Maiti Nepal kept the whole thing a secret for three months after receiving the information.”
Dolma’s family, and in fact everyone in her village, were unaware of all this. A few villagers had heard that a woman called Dolma Sherpa had been handed the death sentence in Kuwait. But they never thought that it was their own Dolma the radio spoke of.
Dolma’s husband Ang Tenzi Sherpa has two families. Dolma left her son in an orphanage and flew to Kuwait for work on November 10, 2005. Ang Tenzi has himself worked at a US forces camp in Iraq in the past.
“My son is inconsolable in the wait for his mother. The farm at home is hardly enough to feed the family. Dolma said she would also work and earn money. I didn’t want to send her, but there was a compulsion. Now I am facing a huge problem. I cannot do anything by my own. I have no education. I appeal to everyone to help get her back,” Ang Tenzi told Kantipur’s Dinesh Regmi after returning from Iraq.
Officials at the Nepal Embassy in Riyadh met Dolma at Kuwait’s central prison a few days after her death sentence was made public. In Kathmandu, the Democratic Sherpa Association urged the then prime minister to appeal to the Kuwaiti government to pardon her life. Before this, several organizations, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), conducted correspondence with the Saudi Embassy, the Department of Labor, and the Labor Ministry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs later informed it would cost Rs 5 million to both arrange legal representation for Dolma, and provide blood money as compensation to the Filipino family.
The government of Nepal provided Rs 400,000 as seed money. An equal amount of money was provided by organizations such as Maiti Nepal. Bank accounts were opened to collect contributions. The Non-Resident Nepali Association expressed a willingness to provide up to US $50,000 in blood money. Just a month after being informed, the Sherpa Association Japan provided US $6,250 for the purpose, and Nepalese in the United States provided another US $2,201, further speeding up the contributions.
Both local and international human rights, and indigenous and ethnic organizations also took initiative, by meeting or sending an appeal to the Kuwaiti government, the Permanent Representative of the United Nations, and even Kuwait’s Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah in an effort to save Dolma’s life.
In Nepal, the campaign to save Dolma was assisted by over two dozen organizations. Campaigners met the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who told the Foreign Ministry to take initiative by roping in groups like Amnesty International, and also by exploring other possibilities, contacting the diplomatic mission of the Philippines to take blood money in exchange for Dolma’s life.
“The death penalty must have been lifted, and it has been lifted. It would be good if we could unite her with her family,” said Maiti Nepal’s Tamang. “If Dolma needs to serve more time, let her serve in Nepal.”
For this, an initiative has already started, said Manju Gurung of Pourakhi Nepal.
One noteworthy feature of save Dolma campaign was that Bijay Gajananda Baidya, honory consul of the Philippines to Nepal had a big hand in making the Filipino family accept the bllod money, said Bijaya Rai Shrestha of Pourakhi Nepal. She added that Baidya also negotiated with the family of the murdered maid to bring down the blood money to US $10,000.
Related story
Dolma Impact Fund launches Dolma Climate Fund, marking its 10th...
