A Kuwaiti court has sentenced a Lebanese man and his wife to death after they were convicted in absentia of killing a Filipina maid in a case that triggered a crisis between the Philippines and the Gulf Arab state, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Sunday. The case of Joanna Demafelis, a 29-year-old maid whose body was found in a freezer earlier this year, prompted a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and the Philippines, with Manila banning its citizens from working in the Gulf state. In February this year, a full 12 months after she went missing, Ms Demafelis’ body was discovered inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment where she’d worked for a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife. We have to think about the others who are similarly situated.”

Guevarra was reacting to reports that the Kuwaiti court sentenced Demafelis’ employers, Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun, to die by hanging. Al-Qabas, another newspaper, said the criminal court issued its verdict at its first hearing, convicting the pair of “killing the Filipina worker and putting her body in the freezer”. Other provisions include workers being allowed to keep cellphones, the prohibition of transfer of workers from one employer to another without their consent or clearance from the overseas labor offices, and banning employers with records of worker abuse from hiring workers.
A court in Kuwait sentences a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife to death in absentia for the murder of their Filipino maid. The case sparked an Interpol manhunt and diplomatic tensions.