RIYADH, 28 October 2007 — There is a strong possibility that Rizana Nafeek, charged by a court in Dawadmi with murdering a four-month-old child, will escape execution, according to her lawyers. The law firm of Khateb Al-Shammary retained by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has filed an appeal against the death sentence and her case is currently being reviewed in a court of appeals.
“In a letter addressed to us, the legal firm has said that there is a strong likelihood of Rizana being spared,” Basil Fernando, executive director of AHRC, told Arab News yesterday. However, he added that the lawyers believed that she could be given a five-year jail term for “death caused without intention.”
He added, “Sometimes, the charges may be set aside by the appeals court and Rizana could be released unconditionally,” Fernando said, adding that the final verdict is yet to be heard.
According to the lawyers the date of the appeals hearing will be determined by Dawadmi court. Fernando said that due to the steady progress of the case, AHRC had already paid SR100,000 in two installments to the legal firm. The balance of SR50,000 will be paid after the final verdict. The money was contributed by Sri Lankans working abroad. The director also appreciated the efforts made by the Saudi Human Rights Commission to save Rizana. “Officials from the Saudi commission have met the relatives of the infant regarding the issue.”
During Ramdan, the lawyers met the tribal leaders in Dawadmi in order to negotiate with members of the victim’s family. The lawyers explained Rizana’s situation to the leaders and told them why she should be pardoned on humanitarian grounds.
A social service women’s group headed by Dr. Kifaya Iftikhar met Rizana yesterday in the Dawadmi jail. “She looked cheerful and was anticipating the day of her release,” Kifaya told Arab News.
Kifaya said Rizana was worried about the social stigma that she would have to endure because of the case once she was out of jail. “I do not know how the people in my village will react when they see me back home,” Kifaya quoted Rizana as saying.
Rizana arrived in Riyadh on May 4, 2005, to work as a maid in the household of Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi. A few days later, she was transferred to work in her sponsor’s family home in Dawadami, about 390 km west of Riyadh. Apart from performing daily household chores of cleaning, cooking, washing and ironing clothes, Rizana was also entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the employer’s four-month-old infant son, which she was not trained to do.
The incident in which the infant died occurred around 12.30 p.m. on May 22, 2005, while Rizana was bottle-feeding it. She was arrested by the Dawadami police the same day, and allegedly confessed to killing the child.
She repeated her confession in open court. However, at the court hearing on Feb. 3, 2007, she retracted the confession and informed the court that her original confession had been obtained by the police under duress.
In her statement to the court, the maid also claimed that at the time of her arrival in Saudi Arabia, she was 17 years old and that a recruitment agent had falsified her documents and obtained her passport by overstating her actual age by 6 years. According to Rizana’s passport, her date of birth is Feb. 2, 1982, whilst a copy of her birth certificate indicates her actual date of birth is Feb. 4, 1988.
