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Nafeek trial takes a new turn

Thursday 30 July 2009 (08 Sha`ban 1430)

Nafeek trial takes a new turn
Mohammed Rasooldeen | Arab News

RIYADH:The case of Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan maid who was found guilty ofthe death of a Saudi infant in May 2005, has taken a new turn. Thecourt in Dawadmi where Nafeek was initially tried has referred the caseonce again to the Supreme Judicial Council in Riyadh. Thereferral is accompanied by a new statement from the police who tookNafeek’s alleged confession, embassy officials said on Wednesday. Nodetails about the new statement were available. The case has been bouncing between courts over the past year. It first arrived in the high court in Riyadh in March 2008. InNovember the high court announced that a key witness to what happenedon the day Nafeek allegedly made her confession, the Lankan translator,had left the Kingdom and would be unavailable for testimony. Nafeekis appealing a death sentence. The parents of the infant accused her ofmurdering the child; she claims the infant choked while beingbottle-fed. Nafeek was trafficked into the country to work as a housemaid on a passport that falsely stated her age as 23. Her original birth certificate indicates she was 17 at the time, which would have barred her from work in the Kingdom. Theact not only violated the Kingdom’s own laws against utilizingunder-age labor, but it also constitutes human trafficking on the partof the recruiter who sent her to the Kingdom. A court advocatefor the accused from the Sri Lanka Embassy expressed concern thatNafeek had been in prison for five years while the system sought todispense justice. “We visit her often and will console her until a final verdict is given,” said the official who did not want to be named. Nafeekwas spared execution last year on the last day of the deadline forappeal when she was assigned a lawyer, retained with the help of theAsian Human Rights Commission and the Lankan community in Saudi Arabia. Khateb Al-Shammary, the lawyer, cited several reasons why the maid should not be executed. Inaddition to the issue of Nafeek’s age, the legal representative saysshe was assigned the duties of a nanny and assigned the care of anewborn in addition to her duties as a housekeeper. The lawyeralso says that since Nafeek had only been on the job for seven days,there was not enough time for her to harbor ill will that would causeher, as the parents of the dead baby allege, to murder of the newbornout of anger and vengeance. Nafeek maintains that her confession is invalid because it was produced under duress and with inadequate translation. Nafeekarrived on May 4, 2005, three months after her 17th birthday, to workfor Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al-Otaibi and his family in Dawadmi, 390km westof Riyadh. The incident in which the infant died occurred around 12:30 p.m. on May 22, 2005, while Nafeek was bottle-feeding the child. On the same day, she was in the police station, allegedly confessing that she had murdered the child. KifayaIfthikar, a social worker who visited Nafeek last week told Arab Newsthat Nafeek spent her time embroidering pillow covers. Nafeek’sfamily has requested the Sri Lankan government to assign a negotiatorto encourage the Al-Otaibi family to forgive Nafeek during Ramadan.