Sri Lankan girl sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
Domestic worker Rizana Nafeek was sentenced to death on 16 June for a murder committed while she was 17 years old.
She was arrested in May 2005 in Jeddah on charges of murdering an infant in her care. She had no access to lawyers either during interrogation or at her trial and was believed to have confessed to the murder during police questioning. She has since retracted her confession.
She apparently told the authorities that she was born in February 1988, but they seem to have ignored this on the basis that her passport indicated that she was born in February 1982. According to information available to Amnesty International no medical examination is believed to have been carried out to< ascertain her age, nor was she given the opportunity to present her birth certificate, which reportedly shows that she was born in 1988.
Rizana Nafeek is believed to have appealed against her sentence, but if her appeal is unsuccessful she could be executed within days.
Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which expressly prohibits the execution of offenders for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old.
Source:
Amnesty International
http://www.petitiononline.com/rizana1/petition.html (Comment this)
Here are the addresses:
King Abdullah Bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty The King
Royal Court
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Salutation: Your Majesty
His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Al-Saud
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
P.O. Box 2933
Airport Road
Riyadh 11134
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: 011 966 1 403 1185
011 966 1 403 3614
Salutation: Your Royal Highness
His Royal Highness Prince Saud al-Faisal bin 'Abdul 'Aziz Al-Saud
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nasseriya Street
Riyadh 11124
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: 011 966 1 403 0645
Salutation: Your Royal Highness (Comment this)