By Raisa Wickrematunge | The Sunday Leader
External
Affairs Minister G. L Peiris has written to his Saudi Arabian counterpart
urging the Saudi authorities not to execute young Rizana Nafeek on sympathy
grounds, Secretary to the External Affairs Ministry Karunatilaka Amunugama
said.
Amunugama told The Sunday Leader that every attempt was being made to stop the execution even though the case has come to its final stages. He pointed out that the President had already made an appeal to the King of Saudi Arabia, but he was unable to grant a pardon. “The Foreign Minister reiterated that Nafeek was too young and she had no idea about baby care,” Amunugama said. He added however that there was no more information about the case at present.
17 year old Rizana Nafeek moved to Riyadh as a domestic worker. She changed her age on an official documentation, pretending that she was 23 years old in order to be eligible for employment. An infant baby suffocated while in her care and she confessed to the killing, but later retracted her confession, saying it was extracted under duress.
In 2007, she was sentenced to death, and subsequently appealed.
