Foreign Minister meets Saudi envoy to seek reprieve for maid sentenced to death

Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera had an urgent meeting on Wednesday with the Chargé d’ Affaires of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Colombo at the Parliament complex to seek a reprieve for a Sri Lankan housemaid sentenced to death by stoning in the Kingdom.

Minister Samaraweera expressed the concerns of the Government of Sri Lanka on the reported judgment of the Dawadmi Court of Saudi Arabia which has sentenced the Sri Lankan female domestic worker to death by stoning for committing adultery.

Ministers Thalatha Atukorala, A.H.M. Fowzie, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment R. K. Obeyesekere and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were associated with the Foreign Minister at the meeting.

While seeking the indulgence of the Saudi Government, the three Ministers requested sympathetic consideration in respect of the accused.

During the meeting, Minister Samaraweera requested the Chargé d’ Affaires to arrange for him to speak with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia at the earliest to seek clemency for the Sri Lankan national concerned.

A Saudi court in August convicted the 45-year-old married woman, who was working as a maid in Riyadh since 2013, of adultery after she confessed to having an illicit affair with a Sri Lankan man employed in Saudi Arabia.

The Foreign Employment Bureau has hired lawyers and filed an appeal before the Riyadh Court requesting it to reduce the punishment.

In 2013, Saudi Arabia executed Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek who was sentenced to death on the charge of murdering the son of her Saudi employer despite calls from all over the world to spare her life.

Remittances from Sri Lankan migrant workers in Middle East is a major source of Government revenues.