KUWAIT TIMES: COLOMBO: The parents of a Sri Lankan maid sentenced to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia after a baby died in her care will travel to the kingdom later this week to plea for clemency to the boy's parents, a Sri Lankan official said yesterday. A Saudi court sentenced Rizana Nafeek, 19, to death last month and gave her until yesterday to appeal the sentence. Human rights activists have said the boy's death appeared to be an accident.
The Sri Lankan Embassy has already filed an appeal on Nafeek's behalf, said Hussein Bhaila, Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister, but was also hoping that a delegation that includes Nafeek's parents would help save her from execution. The group, which is to include Bhaila and other officials as well, was to leave yesterday, but had not received visas. Bhaila met the Saudi Arabian ambassador yesterday afternoon and was told there will be "no problem" getting the visas in time for their trip, which was rescheduled for Friday, he said. "We intend to meet religious leaders and higher officials and persuade the (boy's) parents to grant clemency to Nafeek," Bhaila said. Parents of death row maid to plea for teen (more)
Mark Alexander
