‘Provide lawyer’ to approach Saudi King - AHRC
November 2, 2010 09:11 pm
The human rights organisation that sponsors lawyers for Rizana Nafeek has urged the Sri Lankan ambassador in Riyadh to approach Saudi King to seek clemency.
In a letter to the ambassador, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to get a senior counsel from the Attorney General’s department to approach the advisor to the Saudi King about the death row maid.
The Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nafeek’s death sentence has been recently confirmed by the Supreme Court.
She was convicted of killing an infant in her care in 2005. although her passport was altered to show that she was older, Ms Nafeek has been 17 years of age at the time of the incident.
AHRC’s Basil Fernando has also requested Sri Lankan authorities in Saudi Arabia to “request from the Sri Lanka government whatever resources you need for achieving this objective.”
Assuring continued support in seeking the release of Ms Nafeek, the AHRC urges the ambassador to “ensure proper communication to the concerned persons including the family of Rizana Nafeek on the developments,” regarding the case.
AHRC has paid $40,000 to secure the services of Khateb Al-Shammary law firm.
“Although we are the sponsors for Khateb Al-Shammary, their client is Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi Arabia,” Basil Fernando told BBC Sandeshaya.
If anything goes wrong with Ms Nafeek’s case, he added, the government should be made responsible.
“We want to assure you that we are still doing our best in this case and are not sparing any effort, with many concerned Saudi Arabian officials hoping to get the parents of the deceased to withdraw their claim,” the law firm has wrote to the AHRC, BBC reports.
