Kerala - Kochi   

Relatives seek release of couple jailed in Saudi Arabia

Special Correspondent

Kochi: Family members of a couple, jailed in Saudi Arabia on charges of murdering a Nepali housemaid, on Saturday sought the intervention of the State and the Centre to bring them back to Kerala.

At a press conference here, Aalikutty Joseph, Tony Joseph and Biju Thomas, mother, brother and brother-in-law of Roy Joseph, who hails from Elanji in Ernakulam district, said that Mr. Roy and his wife Biji were in a Saudi jail for the past 11 months.

They said Mr. Roy, an architect at Binladin Construction Company, and his wife, a nurse at Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, had employed a Nepali woman to look after their twins. She was arranged through Mr. Roy's friend Charlie.

The Nepali woman had been with the Roys for eights months. However, she went missing on July 7, 2006, and was found dead. A mobile phone and a bunch of keys belonging to Mr. Roy were found near the body. The police took the couple along with the kids into custody. The family members alleged that the police arrested the couple only on the ground that the mobile phone and keys of Mr. Roy were found near the body. They said that their children had to remain without parents for days when the police detained their parents. However, the twins were later brought back to the State on the intervention of some of Mr. Roy's friends. They said that a Shariat court would deliver verdict in the case on May 30 and the life of the couple was in danger. They demanded the intervention of the State and the Centre and also the Indian embassy to save the couple.

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