Sri Lanka: Saudi King suspends Rizana Nafeek’s death sentence

 Saudi Arabia’s head of state- King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has suspended the death sentence given to Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek.

Rizana Nafeek is the internationally known teenage Sri Lankan housemaid sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia after inadequate legal proceedings found her guilty of killing a four month-old son of her employer Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi.

Last November, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse personally wrote to Saudi King Fahd requesting clemency for Rizana. Saudi Arabian Supreme Court in Riyadh in September 2010 endorsed the death sentence given to the Sri Lankan maid on charges of murder of a Saudi infant in 2005.

Hearing the good news Mohamed Jihad, who as the Convenor of Muthur People’s Form has been tirelessly working for the cause of freeing Rizana told the Asian Tribune, that they were extremely happy that efforts to obtain pardon for Rizana had not become fruitless and added that he had passed the message to Raizana’s family.

“They are overjoyed. In fact I am going there right now. Many persons contributed to this. We are extremely grateful to President Mahinda Rajapaksa for intervening ,” he said.

Sri Lankan Minister for Industry and Commerce- Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, who was to visit Saudi Arabia in December in a bid to meet the tribal leaders seeking pardon for Nafeek, speaking to the Asian Tribuneexpressed much joy after hearing about the suspension of her death sentence.

Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, is scheduled to meet the leaders of the tribe of Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi, to advise the deceased infant’s parents to pardon the convicted maid on humanitarian grounds.

“Raizana is good child. But we don’t know what happened in Saudi Arabia. All I know is that she did not commit this crime. We are extremely helpless and in a grief-stricken situation. Islam says forgiveness is the most important thing. I appeal earnestly to release and bring our child back into our home. I thank Tamils, Muslims and everyone else especially President (Mahinda Rajapaksa) for intervening on my child’s behalf,” Rizana’s mother- Rafeena Nafeek told in an exclusive interview given to Asian Tribune earlier.

This was the earnest plea of one desperate Sri Lankan mother – Rafeena Nafeek, who’s child- Rizana, a bright and intelligent student sacrificed her education and left to Saudi Arabia in 2005, so that her family could feed and educate three younger siblings. (See ‘A Sri Lankan mother’s desperate appeal for her daughter’s release’-