| The fate of Rizana Nafeek – the Sri Lankan housemaid currently on death row in Saudi Arabia for the alleged murder of her employer’s toddler, is in the hands of the victim’s father, according to a senior official of the Association of Foreign Licensed Employment Agencies (AFLEA) said yesterday.
AFLEA Secretary, Faizer Mackeen told the Sunday Times that Rizana’s case could only be decided by her former employer. “He can direct to commute the sentence to life imprisonment or grant her freedom”, Mackeen who returned from Riyadh recently said.
He said that, although the woman had taken up employment in Saudi Arabia through a rogue recruitment agency, AFLEA was concerned on humanitarian grounds since a life was at stake.
Earlier AFLEA had also written to the highest authorities in the Kingdom, seeking clemency for the maid, on the grounds that she was not aware of the seriousness of the alleged act she has been found guilty of committing.
The maid had travelled to Saudi Arabia on doctored travel documents certifying an older age than her 16 years.
The defence argued that the girl was employed as a domestic servant and not as a babysitter, which requires specialised training and experience in that particular field.
Therefore, it held that the employer was in the wrong, and that girl be released.
The toddler had allegedly suffocated to death during a milk feed given by the young domestic, but the prosecution argued otherwise, saying that the victim was deliberately suffocated by the maid.
Earlier, several Rights groups had also appealed to the Saudi monarchy to intervene on behalf of the girl, while Lankan envoys in several foreign capitals were also engaged in behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts towards this end.
The Saudi Arabia National Association for Recruitment Companies Organisation (SANARCO), which has strongly advocated a total ban on domestic workers from Colombo, has also appealed for clemency. |
E-mail
