A Saudi family adorned its house and invited friends and neighbours to a party not for wedding or birthday but to honour an Indonesian housemaid for completing 25 years in service with them.
Family members and relatives lavished presents, including money, on the maid, who they said is considered a member of the family.
Many family members were born after the maid was hired and this made them consider her as “ one of the family members,” Alsharq newspaper said in a report from the eastern town of Dammam.


Prisoner on death row marries in jail

A Saudi prisoner sentenced to death has married in jail and had two children while a third baby is on the way, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The inmate, identified as Jamil, was sentenced to death 13 years ago but a woman sent to him by his father five years ago agreed to marry him.
Jamil wedded the woman inside his cell and paid 10 copies of the Koran as her dowry, Kabar daily said in a report from the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah.
“I often go to visit my husband in prison and get very sad when I see my two children sat on his knees,” his wife said. “They keep asking me when their father will return home but I don’t know what to say to them.”
The paper did not mention Jamil’s age or say why he has been sentenced to death.