Posted on 08/09/2004 6:33:48 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Just two years ago, 43-year-old Rebecca Thompson moved to the Middle Eastern nation of Oman with her husband of 2 ½ years, Mark, when he got a job with a local oil company. Rebecca's 14-year-old son from a previous marriage, Derrick Green, went with them.
On New Year's Day this year, Mark Thompson was found dead — his body battered and badly burnt. In July, a court in Oman — with the input of an Omani religious leader — convicted Rebecca and Derrick of murder. Two 17-year-old Omani boys, accused of being their hired accomplices, were convicted too.
The two Omanis were sentenced to 10 years in jail, and Derrick was given a three-year suspended jail term and ordered to be immediately deported. But Rebecca Thompson faced the stiffest penalty: death by firing squad.
Since then, Thompson's adult daughter, Laura Albert, has been racing against the clock to save her mother's life and bring her home. "My mom was the most unselfish person. And she was loving and playful and kind. We, we miss her very much," Albert told Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer.
Daughter: She Must Have Feared for Her Life
If her mother did hire hit men to kill Mark Thompson, Albert said she believes her mother and Derrick, her brother, must have been "in fear of their lives."
Attorney Dick Atkins, who is working with Albert to overturn Thompson's death sentence, said there is a document showing that a protection from abuse order was brought against her husband in the United States, based on physical abuse. Within a few months, according to Atkins, Thompson's husband was arrested and found guilty of domestic abuse and given a suspended sentence.
Court documents show Mark Thompson admitted to domestic abuse, and in a handwritten statement said, "I did grab my wife … by the wrists, drag her and grabbed her by the throat."
Rebecca Thompson filed for divorce in the United States, but later dropped her case. At the trial in Oman, a maid testified to seeing bruises and marks on her. Albert says her mother and Derrick tried to escape secretly in December 2003, but their efforts failed.
Did Son's Friends Offer Protection from Abuse?
Albert told Sawyer she's uncertain of the chain of events that may have led to Mark Thompson's slaying. But she has a theory: She believes her brother witnessed his mother being beaten and had "had enough." She said she thinks the Omani boys were Derrick's friends and perhaps promised to protect him and his mother. "I think my brother being naive, and being 14, did not realize what they meant when they said, 'We'll protect you. This will be the last time that he beats you or your mother.' "
Atkins said Rebecca Thompson may have been trying to protect her son and may not have had anything to do with the slaying.
Albert said she has had only one phone conversation with her mother and said her mother was not allowed to discuss any details of the case. "She wanted to know about the grandkids. I have two little boys. She asked about them. She asked how my grandmother was, and she said, 'Don't worry.' "
Albert does know a bit about the conditions in which her mother is being held. According to Albert, her mother sleeps on a concrete floor, with anywhere from 15 to 20 women with children in the same cell. "They all eat on the floor out of a bowl. … She says there are lots of lizards and roaches."
Plea for Government Intervention
Albert is publicizing her mother's case and urging the U.S. government to intervene on her mother's behalf. "I want my mom to have a fair trial and a fair chance to explain what happened. I don't think that my mom deserves for someone to say, 'OK, she can't have a fair trial. We don't want to hear what she has to say, we don't care what happened. We want her drug out and shot down in front of a firing squad.' I mean, we live in America and women have rights here."
Mark Thompson's two children from a previous marriage say they are happy with the death sentence, and his daughter Christina has said she plans to attend Rebecca's execution.
Omani officials have not yet set a date for Rebecca Thompson's execution. In the meantime, her lawyers are appealing the sentence, and Amnesty International has agreed to intervene on her behalf.
There is no word on when Derrick Green will return to the United States. When he returns, he will be placed in Albert's custody.
Laura Albert, left, with her mother, Rebecca Thompson, who is facing execution for her husband's murder in Oman.
(ABCNEWS.com)
The moral of the story: do not move to Oman with your abusive husband and have him whacked.
I predict the sentence will be carried out.
This won't make any more news; it's not Laci-Kobe caliber.
It's interesting to see that some places still actually punish people for committing murder. She's too far away and the talking heads would have to leave their comfortable Santa Monica and Brentwood villas for this to become a big media story. I suspect she would still have been convicted here, the daughter's theory is all supposition and conjecture.
Don't bet ont it. The NOW et al will be on the case. If GMA has it as a top story, this is just the beginning...
Somebody needs cooking lessons.
Sorry. This sentence just struck me funny.
Sounds good to me.
Rebecca, you're not in Kansas anymore.
Good advice to anybody travelling, especially to any of the many Muslim-dominated garden spots on this Earth... Obey The Law.
Lethal injection is pretty tame when compared to a firing squad, though.
This looks like a simple murder for hire. Maybe she had good reasons for wanting her husband dead. At the end of the day, though, unless there is some proof that she did not get a fair trial, I have no problem with her punishment.
”Guns Before Butter.”
Woman files domestic abuse charges in US, husband found guilty.
Woman files for divorce, then drops it.
Woman then moves WITH abusive husband to a male-dominated society halfway around the world, and then said abusive husband turns up dead.
Not the brightest crayon in the box, is she?
Gotta admit those whacky Muslims do seem to have a drive for justice.
This sounds like a "burning bed" scenario to me. The sentence is probably very severe to dissuade Muslim women from turning on their #1 oppressors, their husbands.
Drag the dead guy through the mud to save a murderess. Amnesty International hard at work.
Dingdingdingdingding! We have a winner.
As a 16-year old, and again when I was 17, I travelled to the then-Soviet Union. I had the sense, even as a teenager, to find out what I could get away with and what the big no-nos were at the time.
Putting all of that aside, one should safely assume that murder is a great big fat no-no in any country.
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