Stop the Execution of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia

Sri Lankan immigrant maid sentenced to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia. A baby in her care choked to death & Rizana was accused of murder. Rizana was 17 at the time, couldn't speak the language & had an unfair trial...

UPDATE - November 19th 2011

A press release by the secretariat of the Sri Lankan Western Province Governor said there is some progress and they hoped they could obtain Rizana's release before long.

UPDATE - November 15th 2011

Rizana had an emotional meeting with her parents.

UPDATE - September 14th 2011

The two suspects in the Rizana Nafeek alleged human trafficking case who are in remand were further remanded until September 26 pending the filing of Charges against the suspects by the Attorney General.

UPDATE: August 8th 2011

Sri Lankan news reports that Rizana is likely to be formally pardoned and brought home 'very soon'.

A ministerial delegation from Sri Lanka is said to be in Saudi Arabia attending to the formalities.

UPDATE: June 16th 2011

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html"> http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html">Statement from Rizana sheds new light on her case - Asian Tribune

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html">The newly obtained signed statement of Rizana Nafeek of Muthur, Sri Lanka, the housemaid who is now languishing in the Death Row in Saudi Arabia has shed new light in her case and how her case was badly handled by the Sri Lankan Embassy Officials in Saudi Arabia, as well as by the lawyer who has been retained on her behalf.

According to the available information, Rizana Nafeek , retracted her confession at the court hearing, on 3rd February 2007, and informed the court that her original confession admitting to the killing of the child had been obtained by the Police under duress.

The Asian Tribune is now in possession of the new statement prepared in the Tamil language by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Saudi Arabia

http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/06/16/rizana-nafeek-sentence-death-without-postmortem-report">http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html">Read more

UPDATE: June 14th 2011

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html">Sri Lankan Government 'ready to pay any amount' to save Rizana

The Sri Lankan government is ready to pay any amount of money as 'blood money' to rescue Rizana Nafeek...  said Foreign Employment and Welfare Minister, Dilan Perera, addressing a press conference at the Central Bank.

UPDATE: April 2011

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/rizana-updates.html">Mother's pardon pending

Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) Additional General Manger L K Ruhunage said the Bureau has not given up its diplomatic effort to save Rizana Nafeek, the 20-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid facing execution in Saudi Arabia.

Rizana can only be released if she was granted a pardon by the child’s parents, said SLFEB sources.

The father of the child has reportedly expressed his willingness to pardon Rizana. The mother’s decision is still pending, they said.

UPDATE: 3rd December, via the http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/12/03/saudi-arabiasri-lanka-rizana-nafeek-appeal-reaches-the-critical-stage/">Asian Human Rights Commission:

"The Asian Human Rights Commission has reliably learned that Rizana Nafeek's appeal has reached the critical stage as her file, which was pending before the External Affairs Ministry has now been handed over to the office of His Royal Highness the King of Saudi Arabia for his Majesty's final decision.

The decision could be 1) to pardon her and order her release, 2) to confirm the court's verdict which would mean immediate execution, 3) to freeze the file, which means that the file will not be decided upon indefinitely.

His Royal Highness the King can make any one of these decisions at any time. If the decision is an adverse one the execution will be imminent.

For those who wish to intervene with his Royal Highness the King to seek pardon for Rizana Nafeek now is the time."

26th October 2010, the Asian Human Rights Commission issued a press releasehttp://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2897/"> containing the following alarming information:

The death sentence has been confirmed in the case of a young Sri Lankan Muslim girl, Rizana Nafeek. She was charged with strangling the 4-month-old child of the family for whom she worked as a housemaid.

She was legally allowed only 30 days from the date of the court order to make her appeal. An appeal was made on her behalf by the intervention of human rights groups who paid for the lawyers and her death sentence was set aside pending appeal.

ABOUT RIZANA NAFEEK

Rizana Nafeek was born on February 4, 1988 and comes from a war-torn, impoverished village.

Here, many families try to send their under aged children for employment outside the country, as their breadwinners. Some employment agencies exploit the situation of the impoverished families to recruit under aged girls for employment.

For that purpose they engage in obtaining passports by altering the dates of birth of these children to make it appear that they are older than they really are. In the case of Rizana Nafeek, the altered date, which is to be found in her passport now, is February 2, 1982.

It was on the basis of this altered date that the employment agency fixed her employment in Saudi Arabia and she went there in May 2005.

She went to work at the house of Mr. Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi whose wife had a new-born baby boy. 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.

Rizana Nafeek had no experience of any sort in caring for such a young infant. She was left alone when bottle feeding the child.

BABY STARTED CHOKING - RIZINA PANICKED

While she was feeding the child the boy started choking, as so often happens to babies and Rizana Nafeek 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 teenager very harshly and handed her over to the police, accusing her of strangling the baby. 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.

FORCED TO SIGN A CONFESSION

She was made to sign a confession and later charges were filed in court of murder by strangulation.

On her first appearance in court she was sternly warned by the police to repeat her confession, which she did. However, later she was able to talk to an interpreter who was sent by the Sri Lankan embassy and she explained in her own language the circumstances of what had happened as stated above. This version was also stated in court thereafter.

SENTENCED TO BEHEADING

According to reports, the judges who heard the case requested the father of the child to use his prerogative to pardon the young girl. However, the father refused to grant such pardon. On that basis the court sentenced her to death by beheading. This sentence was made on June 16, 2007.

The said murder allegedly took place in February 2005 when Rizana Nafeek was only 17 years old. Sources said she had modified her age on her passport so that she could enter Saudi Arabia to work. Accordingly, she was still considered a minor by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child.

PARDON RIZINA NAFEEK

Rizana Nafeek's case is now before an advisor to his Royal Highness the King who has the power to pardon her.

There is good reason to grant her a pardon as no real crime is involved when a 17 year-old girl with no experience has to bottle feed an infant and as a result there is an accident by way of the infant choking.

At the initial stages of the case the accused young girl did not have legal representation or any assistance from her Embassy and did not even have a proper translation of what was going on. This tragedy which has been taken up as a crime should not lead to another tragedy of a young girl being beheaded for no crime at all.

PLEASE DO ALL YOU CAN TO SHARE THIS PETITION WIDELY!

http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2897/">Source: Asian Human Rights Commission

Please sign the petition to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse to request that he does his utmost to continue to appeal to His Royal Highness, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, to save Rizana Nafeek.

Copies will also be sent to H.E. Mr. Ahmed A. Jawad (Sri Lanka Ambassador to Saudi Arabia) and Bandar Mohammed Abdullah Al-Aiban (President, Human Rights Commission, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

Read more:

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/350-save-rizana-from-beheading-in-saudi-arabia.html">Rizana Nafeek: A Tragedy of Two Families

http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/prisoners-and-injustice/save-rizana-nafeek/352-save-rizana-contacts.html">Write to HRH King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

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