Nafeek case:

Father willing to forgive, says HRC

Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh

RIYADH: The Kingdom's Human Rights Commission (HRC) will attempt to persuade the mother of an infant, who died in the care of a Sri Lankan woman hired as a housecleaner but given nanny duties to cease the pursuit of the death penalty for the accused.

The father, according to the mediators, has expressed his desire to forgive the maid.

HRC President Turki Al Sudairy conveyed the latest information in this much-publicised case to Sri Lankan Ambassador Abdul Ageed Mohammed Marleen at a recent meeting at the HRC headquarters here. Al-Sudairy said HRC officials met the dead child's father, Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi, and at this meeting he expressed willingness to pardon 20-year-old Rizana Nafeek, but the mother was not still ready to forgive the maid.

Meanwhile in a letter addressed to her parents Nafeek had said this would be her last Eid festival in the Kingdom since she would either be released or face capital punishment before the next Eid ul-Fitr.