Sri Lankan housemaid’s impending execution:

Govt appeals for clemency

An appeal for clemency by the Sri Lankan Government, requesting the death sentence imposed on a Sri Lankan domestic worker in Saudi Arabia be reconsidered has delayed the execution by stoning, a Riyadh-based top source confirmed.

The Sri Lankan maid was to be stoned to death on Friday (4) for committing adultery. Sri Lankan diplomatic sources in Riyadh confirmed she had confessed to adultery, at least on four occasions, during the trial, making the appeal process difficult.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo told the Sunday Observer the Sri Lankan Government has made an appeal to the relevant court in Riyadh, requesting for a reversal of the order. “The appeal is pending and it is not possible to have someone executed during this time,” the source clarified.

The convicted woman, a 44- year-old mother of two was sentenced in March this year for committing adultery with an unmarried Sri Lankan man. The woman was condemned to death by stoning, while the man was to receive 100 lashes.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Azmi Thassim said the Sri Lankan Government had taken “every conceivable step” to prevent harm to the convicted woman. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry and Foreign Employment Ministry have lodged appeals through the Saudi mission in Colombo to Riyadh, pleading clemency. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment has retained a lawyer to defend the maid.

On a previous instance, another young Sri Lankan housemaid cum caregiver, Rizana Nafeek was convicted in 2006 for the alleged murder of a four-month-old boy and was executed in 2013. At that time, the Government directly lodged an appeal against the execution to the Saudi King and offered to pay the ‘blood money,’ to no avail.

– DH