By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY – While they have been sentenced to death, the family of slain Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis is reiterating the call for extradition of the husband and wife to Kuwait.
Joejet Demafelis, the oldest brother of Joanna said that Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun should be taken to Kuwait to face punishment.
On Easter Sunday, the Kuwaiti Criminal Court sentenced the two former employers of Joanna to death by hanging for beating up the Filipina domestic worker to death and hiding her body inside a freezer.
However, the sentencing was done in absentia as the married couple were not physically in Kuwait.
Assaf is still in Lebanon while Hassoun is in Damascus, Syria.
The Demafelis family of Sara, Iloilo province is still appealing to the Duterte administration to ask both the governments of Lebanon and Syria to turn over Assaf and Hassoun respectively to Kuwaiti authorities.
Joejet also said the family is awaiting word from Secretaries Silvestre Bello III of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Alan Peter Cayetano of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) if they would be allowed to fly to Kuwait.
Crisanto and Eva, Joanna’s parents, earlier expressed wanting to personally see the couple who killed their daughter.