insomniac
22-10-07, 03:43 PM
Alert: Sri Lankan Teenager Facing Miscarriage of Justice in Saudi Arabia
27 September 2007
This Ramadan, we urge you to campaign for Sri Lankan teenage girl, Rizana Nafeek, currently detained facing the death penalty in KSA, after she was allegedly forced to confess to strangling a four-month-old infant put in her care by the family that employ
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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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27 September 2007
Alert: Sri Lankan Teenager Facing Miscarriage of Justice in Saudi Arabia
This Ramadan, we urge you to campaign for Sri Lankan teenage girl, Rizana Nafeek, currently detained facing the death penalty in KSA, after she was allegedly forced to confess to strangling a four-month-old infant put in her care by the family that employed her.
1) Background
Rizana Nafeek, a seventeen year old girl belonging to an impoverished village in Sri Lanka, migrated to Saudi Arabia to work to support her family. She arrived in Riyadh on 4 May 2005 on an altered passport which reportedly misstated her year of birth as 1982, obtained from an employee recruitment agency in Sri Lanka.
Her sponsor in Riyadh was Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi who transferred her to his house in Dawadami to work as a maid. She was responsible for the daily household chores as well as for looking after Mr Otaibi’s four-month old infant son, which she was not trained to do. On 22 May 2005, while Ms Nafeek was bottle-feeding the infant, he began choking on the milk. Ms Nafeek reportedly shouted for help, but the child died by the time his mother arrived.
Ms Nafeek was immediately turned over to the police, and was not provided any assistance from a lawyer or interpreter. She was reportedly made to sign confession documents in Arabic, but on 2 February 2007, she retracted her confession in court, stating that she had been made to confess under duress. On 16 June 2007, she was sentenced to death for the murder of Mr Otaibi’s son by a panel of three judges in Dawadami High Court.
Under Islamic Shariah law, the death sentence can be revoked if the victim’s family agrees on accepting compensation in terms of money from the accused, but so far Mr Otaibi has refused to grant Ms Nafeek clemency. Ms Nafeek has appealed against the death sentence with the assistance of lawyers appointed for her case by the Sri Lankan embassy in KSA but if her appeal fails she will be executed. Since then many human rights organizations as well as Sri Lankan government officials have protested and appealed to the Saudi authorities as well as the victim’s family against the death sentence.
Officials from the Sri Lankan embassy have been visiting Ms Nafeek who report that she is being treated well in prison and that she is confident of her release. Her case is being currently review by a higher court of appeal.
LETTERS TO FOLLOW....
27 September 2007
This Ramadan, we urge you to campaign for Sri Lankan teenage girl, Rizana Nafeek, currently detained facing the death penalty in KSA, after she was allegedly forced to confess to strangling a four-month-old infant put in her care by the family that employ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Islamic Human Rights Commission
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27 September 2007
Alert: Sri Lankan Teenager Facing Miscarriage of Justice in Saudi Arabia
This Ramadan, we urge you to campaign for Sri Lankan teenage girl, Rizana Nafeek, currently detained facing the death penalty in KSA, after she was allegedly forced to confess to strangling a four-month-old infant put in her care by the family that employed her.
1) Background
Rizana Nafeek, a seventeen year old girl belonging to an impoverished village in Sri Lanka, migrated to Saudi Arabia to work to support her family. She arrived in Riyadh on 4 May 2005 on an altered passport which reportedly misstated her year of birth as 1982, obtained from an employee recruitment agency in Sri Lanka.
Her sponsor in Riyadh was Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi who transferred her to his house in Dawadami to work as a maid. She was responsible for the daily household chores as well as for looking after Mr Otaibi’s four-month old infant son, which she was not trained to do. On 22 May 2005, while Ms Nafeek was bottle-feeding the infant, he began choking on the milk. Ms Nafeek reportedly shouted for help, but the child died by the time his mother arrived.
Ms Nafeek was immediately turned over to the police, and was not provided any assistance from a lawyer or interpreter. She was reportedly made to sign confession documents in Arabic, but on 2 February 2007, she retracted her confession in court, stating that she had been made to confess under duress. On 16 June 2007, she was sentenced to death for the murder of Mr Otaibi’s son by a panel of three judges in Dawadami High Court.
Under Islamic Shariah law, the death sentence can be revoked if the victim’s family agrees on accepting compensation in terms of money from the accused, but so far Mr Otaibi has refused to grant Ms Nafeek clemency. Ms Nafeek has appealed against the death sentence with the assistance of lawyers appointed for her case by the Sri Lankan embassy in KSA but if her appeal fails she will be executed. Since then many human rights organizations as well as Sri Lankan government officials have protested and appealed to the Saudi authorities as well as the victim’s family against the death sentence.
Officials from the Sri Lankan embassy have been visiting Ms Nafeek who report that she is being treated well in prison and that she is confident of her release. Her case is being currently review by a higher court of appeal.
LETTERS TO FOLLOW....