Skip to main content

UK ALSO CONDEMNS ‘CRUEL AND INHUMAN’ RIZANA BEHEADING


Britain has condemned Saudi Arabia’s beheading of a young Sri Lankan maid as “cruel and inhuman”. The Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, spoke out as shock and outrage over the execution escalated, with Sri Lanka withdrawing its envoy from the Gulf State.

The Saudi government announced on Wednesday that it had carried out the beheading of Rizana Nafeek after finding her guilty of the murder of a baby in her care.

She had been accused of smothering the youngster after an argument with the child’s mother but always denied the charge.

The Gulf State went ahead with her execution even though it emerged later that she had been only 17 at the time.

Imposing capital punishment on a minor is widely viewed as being a breach of international children’s rights codes.

In a statement Mr Burt said: “I condemn the execution of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia yesterday, despite the many appeals for her sentence to be commuted.

“The UK opposes all use of the death penalty as a matter of principle, whatever the crime committed.

“We also find the practice of beheading to be particularly cruel and inhuman. We continue to raise our concerns about human rights with the Saudi authorities, including its frequent use of the death penalty.”

The European Union also expressed dismay. Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU foreign affairs head, said: “I am deeply dismayed by the information that Sri Lankan national Ms Rizana Nafeek was executed.”

“The EU opposes the use of capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances,” she added.                

Rizana Nafeek was accused of killing the four-month-old in 2005 and was put on death row after her trial in 2007.

The Saudis went ahead with the execution in the town of Dawadmy, near the capital Riyadh, despite global appeals to call it off.

Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa made a series of personal appeals to try to stop the execution and grant a pardon to the maid.

Afterwards the president issued a statement saying he and his government “deplored” the action.



Sri Lanka has now recalled its envoy to Saudi Arabia in protest.

Karunatilake Amunugama, secretary of Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry, said: “(This is) to show our displeasure for not hearing the government’s appeal to save Rizana Nafeek. He (the envoy) has been recalled with immediate effect.”

Saudi households are highly dependent on housemaids from African and South Asian countries. There have been reported cases of domestic abuse in which families mistreat their maids, who have then attacked the children of their employers.

Amnesty International, in a statement before the execution, said that it appeared Nafeek had no access to lawyers either during her pre-trial interrogation or at her trial in 2007, Eagle Radio reports.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In abrupt turnaround, Olympus admits it hid losses

Japan's Olympus admitted on Tuesday it hid losses on securities investments dating back two decades, bowing to weeks of pressure to explain a series of baffling transactions that have put the future of the firm in doubt. The revelations by the 92-year-old company appear to vindicate ex-CEO Michael Woodford, who has staged a campaign since being sacked on October 14 to force the firm to come clean on nearly $1.5 billion in questionable payments. Olympus President Shuichi Takayama blamed Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who quit as president and chairman on October 26, Vice-President Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada for the cover-up, saying he would consider criminal complaints against them. The admission after weeks of denials shocked investors, sending shares in the endoscope and camera maker skidding almost 30 percent and prompting the biggest non-Japanese shareholder to demand the replacement of the entire board. "Ignorance is no defense," said Jo...
Post a Comment
Read more

GL SLAMS ‘COLONIAL’ RIGHTS GROUPS

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris rejected “colonial” criticism Tuesday of a government-appointed civil war probe, after foreign rights groups snubbed an invitation to attend. New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group last week accused the panel of a cover-up and refused an offer from Colombo to appear before it. Peiris said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading think-tank based in London, that the rights groups had displayed a “most unattractive attitude.” “It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future,” he said. Peiris, who is in London for talks with the British government, said the LLRC was based on similar reconciliation commissions in countries such as South Africa. He urged rights groups and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IRRESPONSIBLE TALK BY MEMBERS COST UNP ITS VOTERS, SAYS SAJITH

The voters have distanced themselves from the United National Party (UNP) because several members had demeaned the military victories during the recently concluded war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Hambantota District parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s son, Sajith was addressing a meeting at Gurutalawa at the Yatinuwara electorate in Kandy last evening to raise awareness on his Jathika Jeewaya Programme. Mr. Premadasa launched this programme within three electorates in the Gampaha District last week as well. Adding further, Sajith Pramadasa said the UNP suffered erosion in its support as some had uttered irresponsible comments when the Sri Lankan armed forces were gaining victory after victory in the fight against the LTTE. When the Army captured Thoppigala, some in the UNP had said that Thoppigala was only a jungle, while some had accused the then government and the military of claiming to be advancing towards Kilinochc...
Post a Comment
Read more