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Scores of sympathisers from Bahrain have signed an online petition to help save the life of a teenage housemaid sentenced to death by beheading in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
The petition, created by Sadeva Dhanapala, appeals to Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for mercy.
The teenage maid from Sri Lanka is on death row after being found guilty last month of strangling the baby son of her Saudi employers.
Ms Nafeek confessed to the murder while in custody but now says that the baby choked to death while she was feeding him and that the confession was made under duress.
Rizana Nafeek arrived in Saudi Arabia in 2005 after an employment agency falsified her age on her passport. She was assigned to the home of a government employee whose wife had just given birth to a baby boy. A few weeks into her employment she was told to bottle feed the baby.
The child died in the teenager’s arms.
Last month a Sharia court sentenced the teenager to death and she faces decapitation within a matter of months unless her appeal, which is being funded by The Asian Human Rights Commission, is successful.
The petition now has over 30,000 signatures which include thousands from the Gulf states.
One signatory from Bahrain, C D Souza, pleaded: “Save Rizana from death, she was 17-years-old, still a minor.”
Glen Richard Asker, also from Bahrain, wrote: “Please forgive her and let all parents and governments learn from this not to send underage and unqualified housemaids to any part of the world.”
Another Bahraini resident, Ingrid Paul, said: “God forgives, so who are we? We need to be merciful to gain forgiveness too.”
Author of the petition, Ms Dhanapala added: “I have 17-year-old nieces and I was wondering how they could face the prospect of imminent death with absolutely no hope.
“In Sri Lanka a 17-year-old is still very much a child. That to me, was the point where I decided I could not just cluck-cluck sympathy and had to do something.
“To be 17 and have your whole life ahead of you – and then stare at the executioner’s sword … no family, no friends, no passport, you don’t know exactly where you are, no one to help, everyone speaks a language you don’t understand, can you imagine yourself in that position?”
Mr P B Higgoda, the Sri Lankan honourary consul in Bahrain, condemned the sentencing: “We must rescue her.” he said
“She must be pardoned. She is very young and she shouldn’t have come at such a young age.”
The Bahrain-based Migrant Workers Protection Society also voiced its concern.
Head of its action committee, Mariette Dias, said: “It’s inhumane.
“I don’t know what the petition will achieve but it’s a very good sign that people are taking action and you would hope that the Saudi government will take notice.”
By -RdS-
editor@gulfweekly.com
