Rizana Nafeek case:

Judge orders Police to change interpreter

Mohammed Rasooldeen

The High Court in Dawadmi that is considering the case of a Sri Lankan maid who allegedly murdered a Saudi baby in 2005 rejected on Monday a police interpreter brought to translate the maid’s statement.

Chief Justice Abdullah Al-Rosaimi ordered police to bring another interpreter when the court holds its next hearing on January 19. In addition to the High Courts three-member Bench, the hearing was attended by the maid, Rizana Nafeek, her lawyer, Khateb Al-Shammary, and the two police officers who recorded her statement following her arrest.

The father of the dead baby, Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi, who regularly attends court hearings was not in court.

In the courts last hearing, Nafeek told judges that she confessed to murdering the child under duress fearing for her life following an assault.

The maid’s statement was translated by Abdul Careem, an Indian electrician acting as an interpreter. Nafeek is appealing the death sentence.

The baby’s parents accuse her of murdering the child while she claims the baby choked while being bottle-fed. The case has been bouncing between courts for the last 12 months. It first arrived in the High Court in Riyadh in March 2008.

Nafeek was brought to the Kingdom to work as a housemaid on a passport that falsely stated her age as 23 whereas, according to her birth certificate, she was only 17, something that is in violation of the Kingdoms labour laws and international human trafficking laws.

A court advocate from the Sri Lankan Embassy expressed concern that Nafeek had been in prison for five years.

“We visit her often and will console her until a final verdict is given,” said the official who did not want to be named.

Nafeek was spared execution last year on the last day of the deadline for an appeal when she was assigned a lawyer paid for by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Lankan community in Saudi Arabia.

Appealing the verdict on her behalf, lawyer Khateb Al-Shammary cited several reasons why Nafeek should not be executed, including her age and the fact that she was assigned the duties of a nanny in addition to those of a housekeeper.