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SRI LANKAN EMBASSY OFFICIALS
VISIT RIZANA NAWFEEK AND SAY SHE IS MORE CONFIDENT AND POISED NOW
(By Walter Jayawardhana)
Rizana Naffek told Sri Lankan Embassy officials who visited her in
the jail of Dawadami that she is more confident that Almighty Allah
will protect her , the embassy’s acting head of mission W.S.M.S.
Wijesundara said .
Wijesundara together with Labor Secretary K.B.G. Premadasa were allowed
to visit the girl who had been convicted for murder by a three bench
Sharia court in the the provincial town of Dawadami June 16. An appeal
has been filed now to review the judgement against her .
More confident that she would escape death, she told visiting officials
that she had even learnt Sinhalese language from an inmate who has been
with her in the jail for the last two years.
On Saturday , August 25, she reportedly told the visiting officials
, that her teacher -cum friend who taught her Sinhalese had been repatriated
to Sri Lanka and that gave her more confidence.
Wijesundara, told the local Riyadh newpspaer Arab News, “She was
poised and calm, and never showed any qualms about her death sentence.”
She told the embassy officials what she told her visiting parents weeks
ago that she was being looked after well by the prison authorities.
According to Wijesundara, during the meeting with him and Premadasa
the Chief Jailor was present and with his permission the embassy officials
presented the teenager with chocolates.
Wijesundara said the girl was dressed in a black abaya ( a long outer
garment without sleeves worn by Arabic women) and looked serene and
composed.
Wijesundara thanked the Saudi officials for providing an opportunity
to meet the girl and said it would allow them to send a report to her
parents through the foreign ministry about the condition of the girl
which would console them during this crucial period.
Earlier, the Asian Human Rights Commission said that no other case in
the history of Saudi Arabia had drawn so much attention as the case
of Rizana nawfeek. The human rights body who financed her appeal said
one petition alone sent by a group had 27,000 signatures requesting
that Rizana Nawfeek should be released.
Weeks ago Sri Lanka’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila led
a delegation including her parents seeking clemency for her and the
Asian Human Rights Commission was able to draw the attention of the
Saudi Arabian Human Rights Association about the minor girl , now 19,
when she was accused of murder two years ago, apparently for an accidental
death of an infant she was asked to baby sit who died of chocking milk.
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