Lanka in fresh bid to save Rizana Nafeek

Mohammed Rasooldeen In Riyadh

In a fresh bid to rescue Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek sentenced to death, the Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister appealed to his Saudi counterpart to grant her pardon on humanitarian grounds.

According to sources from Colombo, the appeal was made by External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris to Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal through the Saudi mission in Colombo.

Sources from Colombo told that the appeal, handed to the Saudi embassy in Colombo, had specifically sought a personal intervention from the members of the Royal family to save Nafeek from the gallows.

The Saudi embassy in Colombo forwarded the letter with its endorsements to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Riyadh.

The maid has been languishing in jail for the past seven years and now after conviction, her fate lies in the hands of the aggrieved parents.

Attorney General Palitha Fernando and Additional Foreign Secretary Ibrahim Sahib Ansar met the Riyadh Deputy Governor Prince Mohammed bin Saad bin Abdulaziz and Attorney General As Sheikh Mohamed bin Fahd Al -Abdullah to discuss about Nafeek's case three weeks ago. The Lankan officials were on an official mission.

Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem, who visited the Kingdom earlier, told the Daily News yesterday, the whole country was eagerly waiting for the day when Nafeek was released from prison.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa also made an appeal for clemency to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

Nafeek was sentenced to death on June 16, 2007, by a three-member Bench at the Dawadmi High Court for killing the baby she was entrusted to look after in the absence of her Saudi employers at home.

The accused maintained that the newborn choked during bottle-feeding, and that she tried to seek help.

In August last year, the Royal Court forwarded the case of Nafeek for an amicable settlement with the Saudi parents of the child she was convicted of killing.

Nafeek's case is being taken up by the Reconciliation Committee (RC) of the Riyadh governorate, whose members were currently negotiating with the deceased child's parents.

The RC members usually approach the plaintiff to negotiate a pardon for the accused. Such negotiations are either settled with the payment of blood money or a graceful pardon from the aggrieved parties.

“There is no set period for the RC to take a decision; negotiations may take weeks or sometimes several months to settle a case,” sources from the governorate said.

Legal experts in the Kingdom say Nafeek can only be saved if pardoned by the victim's family.

The pardon can be offered with or without a request for blood money.

Dr Kifaya Ifthikar ,social worker who visited Nafeek recently said the maid looks confident that someone would help her come out of the jail.

“I am sure some good - hearted people would influence the parents to grant me a pardon to release me from jail,” Nafeek told Dr Ifthikar.

Nafeek, holder of Passport No N 0331835, arrived in Riyadh on May 4, 2005 to work as a housemaid in the household, of her sponsor, Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi and was transferred by her sponsor to work in his family household in Dawadami, about 380 km west of Riyadh.

The incident in which the infant died, occurred around 12.30pm on May 22, 2005, while Nafeek was bottle feeding the infant.