A stewardess from Italy was in Saudi Arabia on business. Now she is in prison for drug possession. Drug offenses are punishable by the death penalty in the country.
Riyadh – It’s probably every traveller’s nightmare: An Italian stewardess from Treviso (Italy) was in Saudi Arabia on business in May and is now in prison. The authorities accuse the 23-year-old of illegal drug possession. The verdict has not yet been decided, but Sharia applies in the conservative Islamic country.
Italian stewardess arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged bra joint
The Italian flight attendant worked for the Lithuanian airline Avion Express. Information from the Italian public broadcaster RaiNews According to reports, the 23-year-old was picked up by the Arab police when she landed in the port city of Jeddah and taken to prison. Other colleagues from the airline were also affected, it said. It was a drug raid.
Other media, such as the Italian daily newspaper Corriere del Veneto reported, however, that the police arrest was made at a garden party attended by the stewardess. Plainclothes police officers surrounded those present, searched the young woman and allegedly found a joint in her bra. The flight attendant reported to the Italian consul that she initially assumed it was a robbery. It was only when she was taken to the police station that she realized it was an arrest. Saudi Arabia has a strict drug policy, in some cases even the death penalty. Loud Amnesty International the country has already had 20 people executed for drug-related offenses since 2022.
Stewardess protests her innocence: Italian Foreign Ministry is negotiating release
The young woman claims to be innocent and not to have consumed drugs or alcohol. Loud Corriere del Veneto she signed a document in Arabic, the content of which she did not understand. The mother of the flight attendant spoke of a mistake in view of the arrest. “My daughter has never taken drugs, this joint certainly did not belong to her, she knows the very strict laws of Saudi Arabia very well.” The stewardess has no entries in the police clearance certificate, neither in Italy nor abroad, it said Rai-Report. information from Corriere According to the Italian Foreign Ministry, the authorities in Saudi Arabia are currently negotiating the release of the stewardess.
Executions in Saudi Arabia currently at the highest level
According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, the number of death penalties used reached an all-time high. In 2022, 883 executions were officially reported worldwide, the number of unreported cases is probably much higher. In Saudi Arabia, the number tripled to 196 in 2022 from 65 in 2021. The absolute monarchy had 81 people executed in a single day in March last year. Observers saw it as the largest mass execution in Saudi Arabia’s recent history.
Some of the executions are public and are also carried out by beheading by sword or shooting. According to information from Mirror In 2018, Saudi Arabia abolished the death penalty for drug offenses in a comprehensive reform. However, the Federal Foreign Office also warns in 2023: “Drug and alcohol possession are punishable, for drug offenses the death penalty be imposed.”
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