Saudi Arabia plans to deport 27,000 Indonesian workers, who overstayed their work permits, over the next few weeks. Government agencies are working with the Indonesian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah to deport the workers in groups.

“Most of the workers awaiting deportation are in Jeddah,” said Ahrul Tsani Fathurrahman, spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy, here Tuesday. Those repatriated would include maids and children currently stranded in cities across the country, said Fathurrahman.

“About 5,000 of these 27,000 workers have already left for Indonesia,” said a source. Those deported would not be able to return to the country under new regulations recently introduced by the Kingdom, he said.

Saudi Arabia would pay for those workers unable to afford their airfares home. This year’s figure exceeds the 20,379 workers sent home last year, said a report quoting Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir.

“For this repatriation, we have prioritized vulnerable people including children, infants, the elderly and the sick.” He said there are an increasing number of Indonesians overstaying their visas every year.

Meanwhile, Jeddah police have arrested 49,000 foreigners for violating residency and labor regulations over the past three months. They have been handed over to authorities concerned.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has appealed to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to pardon a maid on death row after it paid SR7 million in blood money to the victim’s family. Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, 41, has been on death row since 2011. She had been found guilty for the 2007 murder of her employer’s 70-year-old wife and stealing SR37,970. Family members of the victim have already accepted the blood money and pardoned her.

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