MANILA, Philippines – A member of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords has written on Sunday, March 26, to the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to London to ask for clemency for Jennifer Dalquez, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) on death row in Abu Dhabi. 

Inderjit Singh, also known as Lord Singh of Wimbledon, asked the UAE government to give “due clemency” to Dalquez who, according to him, only responded to an unprovoked sexual attack.

“It is clear from the evidence that her action was not pre-meditated, but a desperate response to an unprovoked sexual attack,” he wrote in his letter. “I am writing to you to use your good offices to remove the threat of the death penalty and for the authorities to show due clemency.”

Singh is also a journalist and the director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, a British-registered charity in support of understanding Sikhism. 

Dalquez, who is from General Santos City, was imprisoned in December 2014 and was sentenced to death in May 2015. She was convicted of murdering her male employer. She claims, however, that her employer tried to rape her at knifepoint and she accidentally killed him while defending herself.

The Court of Appeals of the Al Ain Judicial Court on Monday, March 27, postponed anew its ruling on whether it will uphold the death sentence for Dalquez. The court will rule on her case on April 12 instead. – Rappler.com