Rojak and Cocktail: Death Sentence Draws Near as Maid Waits for Appeal

Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan maid found guilty a month ago of murdering an infant that was in her care, filed an appeal to the ruling a day before the deadline after the Sri Lankan Embassy stepped into retain legal representation on behalf of the young woman, who faces the prospect of being beheaded publicly for the alleged murder.

She was found guilty by a panel of three Shariah judges on June 16 without legal representation, which is not required under Shariah law.

In a desperate move save the teenage Sri Lankan maid, Rizana Nazik, who was sentenced to beheading by a Saudi Court on charges of strangulating a four-month-old baby in May 2005, the Sri Lanka Government has decided to send parents to Saudi Arabia the father and mother of Rizana to make a personal appeal. Government of Sri Lanka decided to fly the parents, along with Hussein Bhaila, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a legal consultant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Saudi Arabia to file an appeal as well as to seek clemency from the parents of the deceased four month-old-boy .

Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella, Minister for Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare & Government Spokesman for Defence and National Security, told the "Asian Tribune" that his Ministry has contacted through the Divisional Secretary in Muthur to get down the parents to Colombo latest by today for them to travel to Saudi Arabia to file an appeal on behalf of their daughter.

Rizana Nafeek, a nineteen year old Sri Lankan house maid, was convicted of strangling a four month old infant in Saudi Arabia.

She was then sentenced a death penalty of beheading according to the Saudi Arabian High Court.

The Sri Lankan girl, then seventeen years old, went to Saudi Arabia on the 1st of May with high hopes of earning a living in order to help her family who were living in poverty.

She was still a schoolgirl studying at Sapi Nagar School. Her first thoughts at her tender age were a nice house and a good education for her family.

Saudi authorities beheaded four Sri Lankans earlier this year despite repeated appeals by international human rights groups.