Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek was found guilty of killing a four-month-old baby boy in her care in 2005 in Dawadmi, a town west of Riyadh.

Sri Lankan Ambassador Ahmed A. Jawad handed over the Sri Lankan president’s letter to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

Nafeek was sentenced to death by a three-member panel of judges headed by Chief Justice of Dawadmi High Court Abdullah Al-Rosaimi on June 16, 2007.

The Supreme Court in Riyadh recently upheld the death sentence issued by the Dawadmi court. According to the verdict, Nafeek murdered the infant when she was asked to bottle-feed the baby by the wife of her sponsor Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi.

Nafeek, who was 17 at that time, has maintained that the death was an accident.

She originally confessed to killing the baby, but later retracted her statement saying it had been made under duress.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) appealed the case through the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh, after hiring a Saudi law firm to defend Rizana.

Based on the appeal made by lawyer Khateb Al-Shammary, the Supreme Court referred the case again to the Dawadmi court for further clarifications.

Confirming the Supreme Court's endorsement of the verdict, Al-Shammary in a letter addressed to AHRC said the final ruling has been based on the confessions made by the accused maid.

“Now, this verdict will be sent to the higher authorities and the Council of Ministers for approval, or it may be reviewed by the king,” the letter said.

“On the other hand, we want to assure you that we are still doing our best in this case and are not sparing any effort, and this is being done in coordination with the Sri Lankan Embassy in Saudi Arabia and with many concerned Saudi officials to get the parents of the dead infant to withdraw their claim. When blood relatives agree to withdraw their claim, then her punishment will be voided.”

The lawyer also pointed out in his letter that the king has the authority to repeal the punishment. “Death penalties cannot be executed unless approved by king,” the letter concluded.

Respecting the Supreme Court's final verdict, AHRC Executive Director Basil Fernando said he plans to contact the Reconciliation Committee in Saudi Arabia, which has succeeded in securing pardons from blood relatives for a number of people sentenced to death for murder, to negotiate a pardon for the distressed maid.

“The committee has been successful in winning pardons for more than 100 people on death row in the last nine years,” he noted.

Around 550,000 Sri Lankans live and work in Saudi Arabia, many of them as domestic helpers or drivers.