Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Sri
Lankan domestic worker for killing a
baby in her care in 2005 in a case
that has been widely condemned by
rights groups. The maid, Rizana Nafeek, had denied
killing the four-month-old boy. Her supporters say she was only 17 at
the time of the killing. They say her
execution is a breach of international
child rights. The Sri Lankan government condemned
the execution, which it said took place
despite numerous clemency pleas. The Saudi interior ministry said on
Wednesday that Ms Nafeek was
executed for smothering the infant
after an argument with the child's
mother in the town of al-Dwadmi. Translation problems The Sri Lankan parliament held a
minute's silence on Wednesday in
honour of Ms Nafeek. News of the execution came on the
same day that the International Labour
Organization (ILO) said that laws were
needed "urgently" to give greater
protection to domestic workers. The ILO report estimates that only about 10% of all domestic workers -
about 5.3 million people - are covered
by labour laws to the same degree as
other workers. In Sri Lanka itself, the execution has
rekindled debate about the safety of
expatriate workers in the Middle East
and about the poverty which drives
people including Ms Nafeek to seek
work abroad. In a statement, the Sri Lankan foreign
ministry said that President Rajapakse
and the government deplored the
execution "despite all efforts at the
highest level of the government and
the outcry of the people locally and internationally". A Sri Lankan MP who campaigns for Sri
Lankan workers abroad, Ranjan
Ramanayake, described the Saudi
government as "dictators" who would
never execute Europeans or Americans,
only Asians and Africans. The parents of Ms Nafeek had
repeatedly appealed to King Abdullah
to pardon her. Her father is currently in
hospital, officials, say, and her mother is
too distressed to talk about the
execution.
Ms Nafeek was convicted in 2007 of
murdering four-month-old baby Naif al-
Quthaibi, whom she was caring for in
2005. She said that an initial confession was
made under duress and without
linguistic assistance. Supporters say that
she also had no access to lawyers
before her conviction. Human rights groups including
Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch (HRW) have criticised the
Saudi authorities for their handling of
the case, as have campaigners in Sri
Lanka, who argue that there were also serious translation problems at the time
she confessed to the crime. They argue that her reported execution
breaches the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child which Saudi Arabia
has ratified. "Saudi Arabia is one of just three
countries that executes people for
crimes they committed as children,"
said senior HRW women's rights
researcher Nisha Varia, "Rizana Nafeek is yet another victim of
the deep flaws in Saudi Arabia's judicial
system." The BBC's Charles Haviland in Sri Lanka
visited Ms Nafeek's home village in
2010, where he saw a school register
and a birth certificate confirming her
date of birth. Our correspondent says that if the
documents are genuine, she was a
minor when the alleged offence was
committed. It also appears that
employment agents falsified her age in
order for her to get work in Saudi Arabia.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20959228

smh. arabs are sick mehn.

Very Sad. Saudi Arabia is a useless country. Barbaric to the core.