Posted on 07/26/2007 7:03:49 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
July 26, 2007
Fight to save teenage maid from beheading
Jeremy Page in Delhi
When Rizana Nafeek left her war-torn village in Sri Lanka two years ago, aged 17, she hoped to find a new life of peace and prosperity working as a maid in Saudi Arabia.
Instead, she is on death row, facing possible decapitation in the next few months for allegedly strangling the baby son of her Saudi employers.
Executions are commonplace in Saudi Arabia: there have been 109 so far this year, including four Sri Lankans who were beheaded for armed robbery. But Nafeek’s tender age, summary trial and severe sentence have aroused unprecedented international sympathy and sparked a broader debate about the treatment of South Asians in the Middle East.
The case has also put pressure on Sri Lanka’s Government, and others in South Asia, to offer greater protection to the thousands of their citizens who work as maids, drivers and manual labourers in the region. An estimated 1.5 million Sri Lankans work overseas and their annual remittances of £1.25 billion are a mainstay of the Sri Lankan economy.
“This issue should have been taken up long ago,” said Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, which is funding Ms Nafeek’s appeal. “Even now, Sri Lanka’s Government is not taking responsibility. It doesn’t want to set a precedent by providing legal support and there is enormous fear of upsetting relations with Saudi Arabia.”
Nafeek — like many poor Sri Lankans — was sent to work overseas in 2005 through an employment agency that obtained a passport falsely stating that she was born in 1982, rather than 1988. She was assigned to the home of Naif Jiziyan Khalafal Otaibi, a government employee whose wife had just given birth to a boy.
Two weeks into the job, Nafeek’s employers told her to bottle-feed the four-month-old baby while they were out. The baby died in her arms on May 22, 2005.
The Otaibis accused her of strangling their child and a Sharia court sentenced her to death this month — without any legal representation — after she confessed while in custody. Ms Nafeek now says that the confession was made under duress and that the baby choked to death while she was feeding it. She was given a month to appeal, but neither she nor her family could afford a lawyer and the Sri Lankan Government refused to foot the bill. It was only when the BBC World Service radio reported on the case in Sinhala, the main language of Sri Lanka, that the Asian Human Rights Commission intervened.
It raised £20,000 to hire a Saudi lawyer and accused the Sri Lankan Government publicly of failing to protect its citizens. Last week, the Government sent Hussein Bhaila, a deputy foreign minister, to Saudi Arabia along with Nafeek’s parents, who visited her in prison yesterday. “Emotionally and mentally, she’s very down,” Mr Bhaila told The Times.
He said that the policy of not providing expatriate workers with legal support would be reviewed. “I am confident that she will be acquitted on appeal, or failing that, a pardon is possible.” Under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Sharia, a death sentence for premeditated murder can be quashed through a pardon from the victim’s family on the basis of “diya”, or blood money.
True, although I would like to know the specifics on how the baby actually died.
Our relationship with Saudi Arabia gets more troubling every day. We refer to these degenerates as our allies. I wish I had a solution for getting us off mid-east oil and out of this region but I don’t.
The cutting off of thieves hands, castrating rapists, and death to assorted criminal and such is common in Saudi justice.
Fred Thompson’s campaign manager believes that Islam is a religion of peace.
Do Saudis do ANY of their own work?
Do Saudis do ANY of their own work?
___________
LOL. Why would they? They can afford to hire others to do and they’re still as rich as all get out. If you had billions of dollars at your disposal, I doubt we’d find you out in the garage changing your own oil.
Just a thought.
Islamofacists like to hijack planes.
Some people like to hijack threads.
You appear to be part of the latter group.
What are you saying? She was just killing the babies that Saudis wouldn’t kill?
“Maid”? Unless we’re talking about someone who cleans a motel room, why use the Shakespearian reference?
Do you suppose the punishment would have
been the same had the child been a girl?
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!
Not at all. I don’t believe she did it(though of course it is possible).
I was merely pointing out that anytime anything goes wrong, the Saudis blame one fo the foreign workers they import to do ALL of their work for them.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet go to work every day.
I have googled this and haven't found any follow up or any new items after about July 11.
“No Clemency From Family in Rizana Case”
Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 29 July 2007
“Saudi Arabia: Fair Appeal for Domestic Worker on Death Row”
30 Jul 2007 14:30:20 GMT
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/8a9fc33d41dd08ad337118c8d51a3703.htm
Thanks for the update. What a nightmare! Hopefully they have found a legal loophole due to her age.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
