RIYADH, 2 February 2008 — A senior Sri Lankan aide visiting the Kingdom on Thursday said that the lawyers have filed fresh objections to the appeal against the judgment in the case of Rizana Nafeek who was sentenced to death by a three-member bench in the Dawadmi high court.
Rizana was convicted of murdering an infant while under her care by a high court in Dawadmi on June 16. She says that the infant choked during feeding.
She migrated to Saudi Arabia as an underage girl on a passport that had her date of birth falsified by her recruiter. An appeal was filed against the judgment on July 15, a day before the deadline set out by the court.
Hussain Bhaila, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, who had discussions with Rizana’s lawyer, Khateb Al-Shammary, told Arab News that there is every possibility of Rizana being acquitted and for her to be free from this case once and for all.
The deputy minister who arrived here from Jordan also met the members of the Sri Lankan expatriate community at a reception hosted by the Sri Lankan Expatriates Society (SLES) at the Sri Lankan Embassy here on Thursday. The society’s President Wikum Rajapaksa chaired the proceedings, while W.S.M.S. Wijesundera, charge d’affaires, made the welcome speech.
Addressing the members of the Sri Lankan expatriate community, Bhaila said: “You have to abide by the laws of the land and work for its betterment. If you do not like the setup here, please do not come here to bring a bad reputation for Sri Lanka.”
Bhaila said that it is unfortunate that handpicked members of the community have been booked for criminal offenses in the Kingdom.
The deputy minister said that President Mahinda Rajapakse is keen on looking after the interests of the common man. “He takes a special interest in the welfare of the Sri Lankan overseas workers,” he said.
He pointed out that the president had sent this mission to look into the problems of the island’s overseas workers and to monitor the welfare activities undertaken by the Lankan missions abroad.
Speaking about the supply of manpower from Sri Lanka, he said the government is concentrating more on the supply of skilled manpower and youths are being given vocational training to cater to the needs of the countries that need foreign human resources.
While citing reasons that led the government to abrogate the Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA), Bhaila recalled that it was signed without anybody’s approval.
“Even the then Parliament was not aware of such an agreement. This was the first agreement to demarcate areas for the rebels and allowed the LTTE to set up offices in areas under its control,” he said.
