Crackdown on errant foreign job agents

by Ananda Kannangara

The Foreign Employment and Promotion Ministry on Friday directed officials to crackdown all errant foreign employment agents who have already sent underage male and female Sri Lankan workers for foreign employment.

This directive was made following news received by the Government that a 19-year-old Lankan maid Rizana Nasik who is now facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia for the alleged murder of a four-month-old Saudi boy while bottle feeding.

It is said that the deadline to file an appeal in the case of Rizana Nasik has been fixed for next Tuesday (July 16). Foreign Employment and Promotion Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the `Sunday Observer' that steps have been taken to investigate whether underage Lankan workers are employed in foreign countries.

"I have come to understand that this particular girl had first left for employment to a Saudi Arabian home when she was 17," he said.

"Therefore, I pleaded with the Saudi Arabian Government for clemency for the life of Rizana Nasik, saying that she had committed the alleged crime when she was 17 years,".

The Minister said that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has taken steps to save the life of the Sri Lankan housemaid through official and legal channels. It is reported that the Government of Sri Lanka has pledged a special pardon from the custodian of the two holy mosques king Abdullah Bin Abdul Asiz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and directed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to intervene in this matter.

Rizana Nasik of Muttur was sentenced to death by the Daw Admi High Courts in Saudi Arabia on May 30 this year for committing the murder of her employer's four-month-old baby in February 2005.