According to sources in Indonesia, in November 1999 Siti Zainab admitted to stabbing her female employer 18 times, because of alleged “mistreatment”. Before her arrest, she had sent two letters in which she said that her employer and her employer’s son had been cruel to her.
Siti Zainab reportedly made this “confession” during police interrogation, and was subsequently sentenced to death.
She had no legal representation at any stage and did not have access to a consular representative during the police interrogation when she had made her “confession”. According to reports, the police suspected that she suffered from mental illness at the time of the interrogation.