Rizana Nafeek's objection upheld

SAUDI ARABIA: The Supreme Judicial Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has upheld the objection filed by the attorney of Sri Lankan housemaid, Rizana Nafeek against the death sentence imposed on her and returned the case file to the Dawadmi High Court.

The lawyer had filed objections against the verdict of the Dawadmi High Court to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in Riyadh, the highest judicial body in Saudi Arabia.

The SJC has upheld the objection of the lawyer pertaining to the initial translation of Rizana's statement to the Court, upon which the death sentence had been issued.

The SJC has returned the case file to the Dawadmi High Court, which is expected to take up the case for hearing on August 30.

Rizana had been arrested on May 22, 2005 by the Police in Dawadmi, a town 220 km west of Riyadh and charged with the murder of the infant son of her employer, left in her care.

Rizana, who had recently arrived in the Kingdom and 17 years old at that time, claimed that the child had choked to death during bottle feeding. However, the Dawadmi High Court had sentenced Rizana to death in June 2007, upon conviction for the murder of the infant, based on her initial confession to the Police, which she had subsequently retracted in Court.