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RIZANA IS SAVING PART OF THE PRISON ALLOWENCE TO TAKE HOME FOR HER FAMILY OF ABJECT POVERTY SAYS NEWSPAPER

By Walter Jayawardhana

Rizana Nafeeek , the Sri Lankan teenager whose death sentence by beheading is being now reviewed by an appeal court is so confident of becoming free she is ordering new clothes and saving part of the meager prison allowance given her to buy toiletries, to take home for her poor family, reported the Arab News , published in Saudi Arabia.

The newspaper in a story written by Mohammed Rasooldeen quoting a social worker who visited her in the jail said that she is cheerful and ordered a Tamil translation of the Holy Quaran.

““Rizana was so confident that she told me to bring some good clothes to wear when she comes out of jail,” Dr. Kifaya Ifthikar told the Riyadh newspaper according to a prominent item the newspaper published. Further quoting Ifthikar, the newspaper reported, “She also wanted a Tamil translation of the Holy Qur’an, which I gave the woman jailor to hand to her.”

The poor woodcutter’s daughter from Trincomalee who went to Saudi Arabia to give a decent house to her family of abject poverty but did earn nothing when she was jailed, later to be beheaded on a murder charge of an infant she was babysitting, who apparently died accidentally choking milk is now carefully saving part of the meager allowance issued to her for toiletry , the newspaper reported in a moving story.

Dr. Kifaya said that Rizana told her that the jailors, who are all women, look after her well. “It does not look like a jail at all; it looks like an urban home with two rooms. The place is fully air-conditioned and there is a TV for Rizana to pass her time,” Dr. Kifaya said.

In prison, Rizana was in normal clothes and said that she spends her time reciting the Qur’an, praying and watching television, the Arab News further added.

Rizana is given Saudi Riyals 60 a month by the prison to buy toiletries. “She saves some money from it to take home,” the social worker said, adding that Rizana is anxious to see her brother and sister back home.

Meanwhile , in another good development, according to the Arab News, the influential Saudi Human Rights Commission has assigned an officer to look after Rizana’s case. Sources said that it would also try to negotiate with the parents of the infant who is alleged to have been killed by Rizana.
Sri Lankan Ambassador A.M.J. Sadiq had met Chairman of the Human Rights Commission Turki Al-Sudairi prior to his final departure to Colombo seeking his intervention in Rizana’s case.

Basil Fernando, executive director of Asia Human Rights Commission (AHRC), was quoted having told Arab News from Hong Kong that he is awaiting a reply from the Saudi legal firm, Kateb Fahd Al-Shammary, about the case. “We have already written to the lawyers and they will keep us posted regarding their next step,” Fernando said.

The AHRC has paid Saudi Riyals 50,000, one third of the total legal fees, to the firm. The total cost of Saudi Riyals 150,000 was collected by AHRC from a Sri Lankan philanthropist and charitable and business organizations.

“Meeting Rizana Nafeek will be high on my agenda,” said Sri Lanka’s new consul general, A.L.M. Lafir, who assumed duties at the country’s consulate in Jeddah on Saturday. “Rizana’s parents met me before my departure to Jeddah and requested me to meet their daughter and console her in whatever way possible,” Lafir said.

He pointed out that the embassy in Riyadh, headed by W.S.M.S. Wijesundera, is currently looking after her interests and that his meeting with her would boost her morale. Lafir succeeds Masihudeen Inamullah, who left the Kingdom on completion of his tour of duty in June this year.

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