Hakeem to negotiate blood money for death row Lankans

by Naalir Jamaldeen

Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply, Rauff Hakeem is expected to leave for Saudi Arabia shortly to negotiate the payment of blood money to save the lives of three Sri Lankans who are in death row in Saudi Arabia.

The Sri Lankans were sentenced to be beheaded over the murder of a Yemeni national in 2007.

Minister of Foreign Employment, Thalatha Athukorala, was confidant the three men would be saved, as the brother of the victim had agreed to an amnesty accepting blood money. However, she said the issue of how much blood money would be acceptable, is yet to be resolved.

Athukorala said the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Saudi Arabia had appealed to the Governor of the area for amnesty, and added that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had asked her to send a special envoy to Saudi Arabia to discuss the matter, hence the decision to send Minister Hakeem Athukorala said the case of the three Sri Lankans was different to that of Rizana Nafeek, as the parents of victim infant had refused to accept blood money, demanding that the death sentence be executed.

Over one million Sri Lankans migrant workers serve in Middle Eastern countries at present. Most are unskilled workers, largely untrained.

Athukorala said the government was keen to send trained workers but that it would take some time to train them and that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE)will take steps to provide proper training to persons going abroad for employment.

Strict rules and regulations will be introduced to prevent people going illegally for employment abroad, she warned.