Lankan team in Saudi to make personal appeal to infant’s father

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Riyadh

RIYADH: A top-level Sri Lankan delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila will arrive here tomorrow to seek

clemency from the parents of an infant who allegedly died under the care of Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek.

The Lankan team comprises Ibrahim Sahib Ansar director general of Middle East and North African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moulavi M.B.M. Zarook, representative of the Jamiyathul Ulema (Council of Islamic Theologians), Rizana’s father, Mohammed Nafeek and mother Razeena.

A three-member bench of the Dawadmi High Court found Rizana guilty of murder on June 16 of a four-month old infant in a Saudi home, 390 kms away from the capital.

“Our aim is to make a personal appeal to the victim’s father Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi to exonerate the accused from the gallows,” Bhaila told Arab News yesterday.

Expressing optimism about saving Rizana’s life, the Deputy Minister said it will be a humanitarian appeal on behalf of Rizana’s parents and the country.

“We respect the laws of the host country and accordingly we have been following the legal procedures to save this girl from the gallows.”

Bhaila thanked the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for its timely intervention to lodge an appeal the High Court verdict issued in Dawadmi.

AHRC paid an initial deposit of SR 50,000 to Riyadh-based Kateb Fahad Al-Shammari, Attorneys at Law, to submit the appeal before July 16, the deadline given by the High Court for submission of an appeal.

In a media release issued by the Sri Lankan Embassy on Thursday said the mission had signed an agreement with the law firm on Wednesday to retain the services to file the judicial appeal.

“It is expected that the law firm would approach the relevant courts very shortly and file the papers relating to Rizana’s appeal.”

Rizana’s father, Mohamed Nafeek told Arab News from Colombo that his family is tenterhooks thinking about the fate of his daughter who faces the death sentence.

“She went to Saudi Arabia only in search of greener pasture for a better life for her brother Rifkan, 15, and sisters Rifqa, 11, and Rizna, 10,” Nafeek said, pointing out that a sub-agent who recruits young girls from remote villages for overseas employment had successfully allured Rizana for lucrative employment in the Kingdom saying that she could build a house for her family.

Mother Razeena said: “Rizana is a timid girl, I cannot just believe that she had committed such a major crime.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.H. Mohamed is hopeful that the pardon will be given by the parents.

He pointed out that Saudis are philanthropic and service minded community by nature.

“I am sure the father will give a pardon for Rizana in this matter on sympathetic grounds,” Mohamed who is the founder member of the Constituent Council of the Muslim World League said.

M.B.M. Zubair, secretary-general of Federation of Muslim Associations in the Kandy district told Arab News that the Sri Lankan Muslims and even the non-Muslims are concerned over Rizana’s fate in this case.

“We humbly appeal to all those concerned to pardon this girl for the sake of our religion,” Zubair who is also an Attorney-at-law stressed.