UN intervention sought in Rizana case
March 12, 2010 06:21 pm
“The last hearing of Rizana Nafeek was held on Dec. 21 last
year and was postponed until Jan. 19, but the case has still not come up for
hearing,” said AHRC Executive Director Basil Fernando, speaking from Hong Kong.
Fernando said the commission is receiving enquiries from
across the world as to why the maid is still in prison and why a verdict has
not been issued.
Fernando said it seems there is no case to answer since the
police interpreter who translated the maid’s statement and who is the
prosecution’s main witness has left the Kingdom on final exit.
Fernando urged the Sri Lankan mission in
The maid was initially convicted of murder at Dawadmi High
Court. The AHRC then appealed the case through the Sri Lankan Embassy in
Fernando said that the commission has already paid Al-Shammary
SR100,000 and that the remaining balance will be cleared when the final verdict
is given in the maid’s favor.
In the last hearing in Dawadmi, Chief Justice Abdullah Al-Rosaimi
ordered police to bring the interpreter who translated the maid’s statement to
the next hearing, which was supposed to be held in January.
In the court’s last hearing, Nafeek told judges that she
confessed to the murder under duress, fearing for her life after being
assaulted.
Nafeek is appealing the death sentence and says the baby
choked while being bottle-fed. However, the baby’s parents maintain she killed
the child.
Nafeek was brought to the Kingdom to work as a housemaid on
a passport that falsely stated her age was 23 when, according to her birth
certificate, she was only 17, something that is a violation of the Kingdom’s
labor laws and international human trafficking laws.
Nafeek came to the Kingdom on May 4, 2005, three months
after her 17th birthday, to work for Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi in Dawadmi, 390km
west of
Dr. Kifaya Ifthikar, a social worker who visits Nafeek in jail, told Arab News that the maid is desperate to return home. - (Arab News)
