News: UAE maid faces death by stoning after cheating on husband

A maid has been sentenced to death by stoning after becoming pregnant outside of marriage.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court gave the Indonesian woman the death penalty after she was found guilty of adultery. Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer, head of the criminal court, said he handed down capital punishment to the Muslim woman as she had confessed to committing the crime, adding that the sentence was in line with Islamic law.
He added the pregnancy was enough proof of sex out of wedlock and that the woman, who is married, had to be convicted of adultery. The maid, whose husband does not live in the UAE, worked for an Arab family in the capital.
Official records show she was taken to hospital after suffering abdominal pains. A medical examination confirmed that the woman was pregnant. The maid confessed in court that she committed adultery. However, she claimed that she did not know the whereabouts of the man who had made her pregnant.
Under Sharia law, adultery can be substantiated through a confession or if four people witnessed the offence and testified before the court. A judicial official said the housemaid can appeal the sentence if she chooses. He added that Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has previously sentenced defendants in similar cases to death by stoning, but the sentences were never carried out.
A judicial expert said that although UAE laws are based on Sharia law, the courts exercise leniency as much as possible on people charged with such offences.
Last month, newspapers reported that a judge at the court advised a married man that he could avoid a death sentence if he changed his guilty plea in an adultery case, despite having admitted in court 10 times that he cheated on his wife.