An Indonesian minister flew to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to follow the case of a tortured housemaid from the southeast Asian country and denied reports that Jakarta has decided to stop sending local maids to the Gulf Kingdom.

Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia also demanded justice for the 23-year-old Indonesian maid who has been lying at hospital in the central town of Madina since her Saudi female employer used hot iron to torture her early this month for alleged treatment of mental illness.

“We want justice for this girl… I have faith in the fairness and impartiality of the Saudi judicial system… this is an individual case that should not be generalized on the Saudi society,” the Minister said, quoted by local newspapers on Friday.

Asked if Indonesia has stopped sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia, she said no such decision has been issued by her government.

Saudi newspapers on Thursday reported that the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh had appointed well-known Saudi lawyer Saud bin Awad Al Hujaili for the case of Sumiati Salan Mustapa, who had a surgery in the head early this weak. Another lawyer, Bandar Al-Ayban, has also been named for the case by the Saudi Human Rights Commission, which has described the case as a “human rights abuse.”

“Sumiati’s case is not a normal case…it is an extraordinary case not only in Indonesia but on the global level…we hope that you will do you best to support her case,” the Minister said, addressing the maid’s lawyer.

“This case is being personally followed by the President and there should be continuous coordination between you and the Indonesian consul.”

Al Hujaili, a member of the Arab Lawyers’ Union, said on Thursday he would do his best to guarantee the rights of the maid who has been lying at the intensive care unit (ICU) at King Fahd General Hospital in Madina.

“I will do my best within the framework of existing laws that guarantee the rights of all nationals and expatriates,” he said.

In a statement this week, the Saudi Human Rights Commission denounced the torture of Sumiati Salan Mustapa and demanded punishment of the Saudi employer in accordance with Islamic law.

Doctors have performed an operation on the housemaid’s badly damaged scalp and said she requires several plastic surgeries once she is out of the ICU.

Saudi newspapers said this week the 53-year-old widow confessed to the crime after her son told police during interrogation that his mother tortured the maid.

The unnamed widow, who has been in police custody, was reported this week as saying she used a hot iron on the maid to cure her from a mental illness. The widow herself has undergone psychiatric tests following the incident.