To the recipients of communications through the AHRC network, Rizana Nafeek is a familiar name. The 17-year-old girl from a poor family from a conflict ridden area with a passport indicating her age as 18 arrived in Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper. Within two weeks this young girl was accused of the murder of an infant which she denied, claiming that the death was the result of accidental choking. However, by the time the news reached the outside world she had already been sentenced to death by beheading by a Saudi court and she had only 20 days remaining to make an appeal. The BBC Sinhala Service broadcast this news and expressed the fear that, like four Sri Lankans who had been beheaded earlier, she might face a similar fate.
At this stage the Asian Human Rights Commission wrote twice to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry urging intervention to provide legal assistance to the girl. However, it was then learned that it is not the policy of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry to provide financial assistance for legal fees. On this basis the Asian Human Rights Commission launched an appeal for raising SR 150,000 which amounted to around US$ 40,000 as legal fees for a very competent legal firm, Al Shammary. With the quick responses received from local as well as outside sources the appeal was launched in the nick of time and the death sentence was suspended until the final hearing of the appeal.
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10:44 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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