Saudi lawSaudi Arabia defends beheading

Published 16 January 2013

Saudi Arabia defended its execution of a Sri Lankan maid for the death of an infant she was watching. The Saudi authorities also had harsh words for the international criticism of her beheading. Human rights advocates, pointing out that the maid was 17 years old (the Saudis say she was 21), and the Saudi Arabia violated international conventions by executing her

Saudi Arabia defended its execution of a Sri Lankan maid for the death of an infant she was watching. The Saudi authorities also  had harsh words for the international criticism of her beheading.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia categorically rejects any interference in its affairs or in the provisions of its judiciary under any justifications,” a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency read.

CNN reports that Rizana Nafeek was beheaded last Wednesday in Dawadmi, a town about 200 kilometers west of Riyadh.

Sri Lanka has sent its ambassador to Saudi Arabia in response to the beheading. Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa twice asked for Nafeek’s life to be spared, but was denied.

Human rights groups along with the Sri Lankan government lobbied for leniency in the case of Nafeek, who was convicted of killing the son of her employers. According to the family, Nafeek strangled their son, Kayed bin Nayef bin Jazyan al-Otaibi, after being told to bottle-feed the boy. Nefeek said that the boy choked on the milk accidently.

The Saudi  statement said that complaints about her execution “drew on false information about the case and are issued without full knowledge of the circumstances of the case itself.”

Saudi Arabia had denied allegations by Nafeek’s advocates that she was a minor at the time of the incident. According to the Sri Lankan government, Naffek was seventeen at the time of the Kayed’s death, but the Saudi statement said her passport showed she was twenty-one at the time.

As it is universally recognized, the passport is an official document issued by her government,” the statement said. “Moreover, the legal regulations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not allow the recruitment of minors.”

Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. The treaty prohibits the execution of offenders who are under eighteen years of age at the time of the crime.

According to Saudi Arabia, Nafeek had “all rights to have a legal defense,” with the Sri Lankan government monitoring the case. They also said Saudi officials “at the highest levels” urged the infant’s family to agree to a clemency or cash payment of “blood money” in exchange for sparing Nafeek’s life, but the family refused, leaving the government no choice.

Human rights groups said Nafeek was denied a lawyer during her pretrial interrogation, during which she was attacked and forced to sign a confession.

Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program, said last week that the case shows Saudi Arabia is “woefully out of step … with their international obligations regarding the use of the death penalty.”