Reprieve for Rizana likely - Minister Dilan Perera

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The new Foreign Employment Minister Dilan Perera said that Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nasik who was sentenced to death by the Daw Admi High Courts in Saudi Arabia is likely to win a reprieve by the King of Saudi Arabia.

Nineteen-year-old Rizana Nasik of Mutur was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for allegedly committing the murder of her employer’s four-month old baby in February 2005.

Minister Perera said that according to the Sharia Law in Saudi Arabia, Rizana could be released if the dead child’s parents pardon the victim.

According to some reports Rizana who is facing the death penalty will be released soon following a pardon granted by the dead child’s father Naif Jiziyan Khalal Al-Otaibi.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Ageed Mohammed Marleen said that when the case was taken up for hearing at the Daw Admi High Courts, the father of the deceased child was summoned before the courts.

Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said that the Sri Lankan government had discussed this matter extensively with labour officials in Saudi Arabia, Foreign Ministry officials and legal professionals here to save Rizana’s life.

The Sri Lankan Government sought a special pardon from the custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Asir Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and also directed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to intervene in the matter.

Chairman Ranawaka said that the SLBFE had also appealed to the Saudi Arabian Government for clemency for Rizana Nasik’s life saying that she had committed the alleged crime when she was 17 years.