Colombo, 10 July, (Asiantribune.com): In a desperate move save the teenage Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nazik, who was sentenced to beheading by a Saudi Court on charges of strangulating a four-month-old baby in May 2005, the Sri Lanka Government has decided to send parents to Saudi Arabia the father and mother of Rizana to make a personal appeal. Yesterday, Government of Sri Lanka decided to fly the parents, along with Hussein Bhaila, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a legal consultant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Saudi Arabia to file an appeal as well as to seek clemency from the parents of the deceased four month-old-boy .
Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella, Minister for Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare & Government Spokesman for Defence and National Security, told the "Asian Tribune" that his Ministry has contacted through the Divisional Secretary in Muthur to get down the parents to Colombo latest by today for them to travel to Saudi Arabia to file an appeal on behalf of their daughter.
Rizana Nafeek, holder of Passport No. N. 0331835 arrived in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 4th May, 2005 to work as a housemaid in the household, of her sponsor, Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi, whose wife had a new-born baby boy.
A few days after her arrival in Riyadh, Rizana Nafeek had been transferred by her sponsor to work in his family household in Dawadami, about 390 km west of Riyadh.
A short time after she started working for this family she was assigned to bottle feed the infant who was by then four months old. Naffeek Rizana had no experience of any sort in caring for such a young infant. She was left alone when bottle feeding the child.
The incident in which the infant died, had occurred around 12.30 p.m. on 22nd May, 2005, while Miss Nafeek was bottle feeding the infant.
While she was feeding the child the boy started choking, as so often happens to babies and Naffeek Rizana panicked and while shouting for help tried to sooth the child by feeling the chest, neck and face, doing whatever she could to help him. At her shouting the mother arrived but by that time the baby was either unconscious or dead.
Unfortunately, misunderstanding the situation the family members treated the housemaid very harshly and handed her over to the police, accusing her of strangling the baby. She had been arrested by the Dawadami Police and at the police station also, she was very harshly handled and did not have the help of a translator or anyone else to whom she could explain what had happened. She was made to sign a confession and later charges were filed in court of murder by strangulation.
Later when given a translator and allowed to explain her plight to the Sri Lankan Embassy, a different version of the incident emerged, which was also filed with the Saudi court.
She apparently told the authorities that she was born in February 1988, but the court seems to have ignored this on the basis that her passport indicated that she was born in February 1982. According to information available no medical examination is believed to have been carried out to ascertain her age, nor was she given the opportunity to present her birth certificate, which reportedly shows that she was born in 1988.
Upon hearing the case, the judges urged Otaibi, the child’s father, to use his prerogative to pardon the maid, which he refused to do.
Subsequently, on 16th June, 2007, a three-member panel of judges of the Dawadami High Court, under Shariah law, had found Rizana Nafeek guilty of murder of the four-month old infant son of Mr. Al Otaibi and sentenced her to death by beheading.
The court gave her a period of one month to lodge an appeal, which has been now left up to the Sri Lankan Government to file.
When “Asian Tribune” asked Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella as to what steps have been taken so far he said, “We are making arrangements to get down parents of this girl from Muthur and we intend to send them along with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and also with the Ministry's legal consulstant to Saudi Arabia today or tomorrow by the latest. We have requested the Divisional Secretary of Muthur to find the parents and send them to Colombo.
“Hussein Bhaila, our Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs will contact the Saudi Embassy in Sri Lanka for the necessary visa to go to Saudi Arabia to file the necessary appeal and also to meet the parents of the deceased child.
“We are also trying to arrange a meeting with the Governor or Riyadh who is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
However, Dr. Rambukwella, warned: The lawyers in Saudi Arabia said that the chances overturning the verdict in the appeal are very slim and that is the reason that instead of making telephone calls and sending checks to meet the appeal expenses, why we have decided to send the related parties to Saudi Arabia to make the appeals in person.
“Therefore the appeal is only a formality. It is not a form of an argument but only a form of a plea. That will be done,” said the Minister.
When the "Asian Tribune" pointed out that employers of housemaids in Saudi Arabia should take precautionary to check whether the maids have the proper qualifications to take care of a baby the Minister said that it is point that can be presented in the appeal. “The most important thing is that the parents have to be there to make the necessary appeal,” he said.
In the meantime, Hussein Bhaila Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs speaking to “Asian Tribune” said” “We have asked them to come down to Colombo and they are not in possession of passports, so we have first got their passports and then apply for the visa. Then we will go there and see what can be done regarding this issue.
“We expect to meet up with the parents of the deceased child Mr and Mrs. Naif Jiziyan Khklafal Otaibi, a Saudi government employee in Riyadh and seek clemency from them. The deceased child’s parent’s pardon, apparently, that has to be the only route available because whatever is done the parents of the child must accept the clemency appeal and pardon, whether it is through payment of blood money or without anything on sympathetic grounds. But my information is that this people are not willing to consider any blood money at all. If at all they are considering to pardon they will do so out of sympathy.
“We are also contacting other people who can speak to the deceased child parents and convince them that are the line we are taking at the moment."
Asian Tribune informed the Deputy Minister that an appeal was made to “Arab News”, a leading English language news daily, and requested to take up this issue. Following this request from the Asian Tribune they had filed a news story on Riznan. Asian Tribune also brought to the notice of the Deputy Minister that “several attempts by Arab News to contact the proper authorities in both the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the Sri Lankan Consulate General in Jeddah were unanswered.”(Arab News report is posted at the end of this news report.)
It was also pointed out to the Deputy Minister that Asian Tribune had a similar experience with the Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi Arabia. When we contacted the embassy the Ambassodor was not co-operative.
The Deputy Minister said that the Ambassador is at present on recall order.
Hussein Bhaila, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs further said that there are some organizations that have come forward to finance the legal cost connected with this case. One international organization has asked our ambassador whether the Sri Lankan government have any objection for the financing of this legal expenses and I have said that we have no objection.
Deputy Minister said that the Honk Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission is the one that has come forward to finance. He added that the letter addressed to Sri Lanka Ambassador in Saudi Arabia has been written by a Programme Co-ordinator of the HRC.
“They have also written that the foreign ministry should make a request though we don't have any objection in that organization financing the legal cost but we cannot make a request. If they are willing to pay the money why do they ask us to make a request?”
- Asian Tribune -
Death Sentence Draws Near as Maid Waits for Appeal
Sarah Abdullah, Arab News
JEDDAH, 9 July 2007 — Time is clearly running out to file an appeal in the case of Rizana Nazik, the 19-year-old Sri Lankan maid who — without legal representation — was found guilty by a Saudi court for the strangulation death of a four-month-old Saudi boy in May 2005.
The government of Sri Lanka must clearly state its position regarding providing legal assistance to Nazik who is facing death penalty, said Basil Fernando, the executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission who has been working on the domestic worker’s behalf.
The government is fully aware that there is little time left for filing an appeal and that this will require retaining Saudi legal advisers, said Fernando, who also mentioned that the Sri Lankan Embassy in the Kingdom has already requested funds from the Sri Lankan government for the appeal.
The government is still to make a clear decision. He also said that a letter was sent to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the matter.
According to a statement issued earlier by the AHRC, Nazik was born on Feb. 4, 1988, and came from a war-torn impoverished Sri Lankan village, where it is commonly the practice of families to send their under-aged children abroad to become the breadwinners of the family.
The employment agency in Sri Lanka allegedly obtained an altered passport registered with the birth date of Feb. 2, 1982. Using this forged document, Nazik was able to become a legal domestic worker in Saudi Arabia.
At 17, Nazik was assigned employment at the home of Naïf Jiziyan Otaibi, a Saudi government employee in Riyadh whose wife had just given birth to a newborn baby boy. A short time after beginning work she was assigned the duty of bottle-feeding the infant who was by this time four months old. Nazik had no such experience in caring for infants.
According to the AHRC, Nazik says the death was accidental. She says she was left alone while feeding the child, who began to choke. Nazik said she panicked and began shouting for help while rubbing the baby’s chest, neck and face. But by the time the mother arrived the baby was already dead.
Nazik was then held by the family and turned over to the police. In custody she was allegedly provided no translator, was asked to sign a statement and was charged with murder by strangulation.
Later when given a translator and allowed to explain her plight to the Sri Lankan Embassy a different version of the incident emerged, which was also filed with the Saudi court.
Upon hearing the case, the judge urged Otaibi, the child’s father, to use his prerogative to pardon the maid, which he refused to do.
Therefore, the Shariah court sentenced her to death by beheading and gave her a period of one month to lodge an appeal, which has been left up to the Sri Lankan government to file.
According to further information from AHRC, Sri Lankan authorities are asking for to defend the case, which has yet to be raised.
Subsequently, the AHRC has been contacted by parties who have come forward to offer assistance if the government is not willing to take responsibility. However, Fernando said access to the defendant could only be made through the Sri Lankan Embassy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh. He added that the Sri Lankan government must move forward quickly on a decision.
Several attempts by Arab News to contact the proper authorities with knowledge of the case in both the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the Sri Lankan Consulate General in Jeddah were unanswered.
“In my legal opinion, the maid is still liable for the death of the child,” said a Jeddah-based lawyer. “According to the Saudi Labor Law, domestic workers brought into the Kingdom to perform certain duties should have those duties clearly stated,” he said.
“For example, if she is to be employed as a housemaid her sole duty is to clean, but if she is recruited to care for children, the domestic worker should be certified and trained in child care and brought in as a baby-sitter or child care professional and as not as a housemaid. But as is the case of Nazik it is the Shariah law not Saudi Labor Law that has been enforced and this can only be implemented after substantial investigation, filing of medical documents and certificates and if all of this has been done and brought before the judge it is up to him to pass a suitable sentence.”
So far human rights groups, such as the AHRC and Amnesty International-UK, have been urgently asking people from all over the world to file petitions with the child’s father and Custodian off the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to pardon Nazik, but at present an overturning of the court’s decision has yet to be seen.
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