Rambukwella to Broach Rizana Case With Officials

By: Mohammed Rasooldeen

(October, 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Keheliya Rambukwella is scheduled to visit the Kingdom on Oct. 27 to discuss issues of bilateral interest, including labor welfare and procurement of skilled workers from the Country, the Sri Lankan Embassy announced yesterday.

Embassy officials said the issue of Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan maid currently appealing a death verdict surrounding the death of an infant in her care, would be broached directly during a scheduled visit to Dawadmi where the alleged murder took place.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila and Chairman of the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Kingsley Ranawake will accompany the Sri Lankan minister on the tour that include meetings with Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM) Chairman Saad Al-Badaah and officials from Dawadmi, where Nafeek was arrested.

The Sri Lankan minister is expected to take up issues relating to basic salaries for unskilled workers, employment agreements, common labor problems and the supply of skilled manpower to the Kingdom from Sri Lanka. The minister will also visit Jeddah and meet the members of his community. Consul General in Jeddah A.L.M. Lafeer said that he is in the process of arranging an official program for the delegation.

According to sources, the Sri Lankan minister is likely to take up Nafeek’s matter with the Dawadmi officials. On June 16, a three-member bench in a Dawadmi court convicted Nafeek for murdering a four-month-old infant when the woman, who was hired as a house cleaner, was asked to care for the baby.

The maid contends that the death of the baby was accidental. She said that the baby died from choking during a bottle-feeding session.

With the help of the Asian Society of Human Rights, Nafeek was granted an appeal to her death sentence on the last day that an appeal was possible.

The minister is likely to make his own humanitarian appeal to the parents of the deceased infant to give the maid a pardon through the Dawadmi governor.

Nafeek’s lawyers met tribal leaders in Dawadmi recently to reach a settlement with the victim’s family. The lawyers explained Nafeek’s situation to the leaders and told them why she should be pardoned on humanitarian grounds.

“The strategy is that we are trying legal and other possible means to save Rizana from the gallows,” Bhaila said. The Saudi Human Rights Commission has appointed an official to negotiate with the parents to reconsider their decision not to pardon the maid.

SLBFE Chairman Ranawake said the delegation would also brief Sri Lankan workers about a new pension scheme, which was introduced last month. Expatriates who contribute to the pension scheme will get a retirement allowance when they reach 60 years of age. In case of their death before the age of 80, the next of kin will benefit from the scheme. ( AN)