DUBAI (AFP) - A Filipina maid on death row in the United Arab Emirates has been acquitted of murdering her employer whom she accused of attempted rape, the Philippines government said on Tuesday (June 20).

The court of appeals in the eastern city of Al-Ain, however, sentenced on Monday Jennifer Dalquez, 30, to five years in prison for stealing her employer's mobile phone, the Philippines foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Ms. Dalquez was declared innocent (of murder) without diyyah or payment of blood money," said the statement.

Dalquez was sentenced to death in 2015 after she was convicted of stabbing to death her Emirati employer the previous year.

She said she acted in self-defence after the man tried to rape her, The National daily reported.

She has been behind bars for around two and a half years and had been working in the UAE since 2011.

The UAE and other wealthy Gulf states are home to millions of foreign workers, mostly Asians.