rizana nafeek video free download UPDATE (Saudi Arabia/Sri Lanka): Death sentence on Rizana Nafeek confirmed. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) draws your attention to the appeal made in 2007 into the case of Rizana Nafeek, who went to Saudi Arabia as a maid when she was 17 years old and who was sentenced to death by a Saudi court on the allegation that she had killed an infant of her employer. However, she completely denied the charges and explained that the death occurred as an accident by suffocation while she was bottle feeding the child. As a result of intervention by human rights organisations an appeal was filed on her behalf and the death sentence was set aside. A supreme body in Saudi referred the case back to the original court for reinvestigation. The court called for the person who took down her alleged confession. It was found that he was not a competent interpreter that carried out the translation and that it was someone who was, in fact, a sheep herder. The court issued summons for the person to be brought to the court for examination. It was then found that the person concerned was no longer in the country. Thereafter, the case was postponed for several years as the witness could not be located. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Saudi Arabia has made statements from time to time stated that the embassy was closely following the case and was providing support to the young girl who was in prison. However, later it was almost impossible to get anyone to answer questions about the case from the Sri Lankan Embassy. Just yesterday, when the Embassy was contacted by an international press agency an Embassy spokesman stated that the case was still pending for consideration of pardon by the family. However, on the same day the Arab News announced that the court in Dawi Dami has confirmed the death sentence. The report by Arab News did not give any further details. The AHRC wrote to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to urgently intervene with the Saudi authorities for gaining pardon for the maid. We once again urge you to intervene urgently and write to His Royal Highness, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. For previous references to this case, please see: STM-003-2009, STM-258-2008, UA-207-2007, UP-097-2007, UP-093-2007; PL-023-2007, UG-004-2007. CASE DETAILS: The death sentence has been confirmed in the case of Rizana Nafeek. She was charged with strangling the 4-month-old child of the family for whom she worked as a housemaid. She was legally allowed only 30 days from the date of the court order to make her appeal. An appeal was made on her behalf by the intervention of human rights groups who paid for the lawyers and her death sentence was set aside pending appeal. Rizana Nafeek was born on February 4, 1988 and comes from a war-torn, impoverished village. Here, many families, including those of the Muslim community try to send their under aged children for employment outside the country, as their breadwinners. Some employment agencies exploit the situation of the impoverished families to recruit under aged girls for employment. For that purpose they engage in obtaining passports by altering the dates of birth of these children to make it appear that they are older than they really are. In the case of Rizana Nafeek, the altered date, which is to be found in her passport now, is February 2, 1982. It was on the basis of this altered date that the employment agency fixed her employment in Saudi Arabia and she went there in May 2005. She went to work at the house of Mr. Naif Jiziyan Khalaf Al Otaibi whose wife had a new-born baby boy. A short time after she started working for this family she was assigned to bottle feed the infant who was by then four months old. Rizana Nafeek had no experience of any sort in caring for such a young infant. She was left alone when bottle feeding the child. While she was feeding the child the boy started choking, as so often happens to babies and Rizana Nafeek panicked and while shouting for help tried to sooth the child by feeling the chest, neck and face, doing whatever she could to help him. At her shouting the mother arrived but by that time the baby was either unconscious or dead. Unfortunately, misunderstanding the situation the family members treated the teenager very harshly and handed her over to the police, accusing her of strangling the baby. At the police station also, she was very harshly handled and did not have the help of a translator or anyone else to whom she could explain what had happened. She was made to sign a confession and later charges were filed in court of murder by strangulation. On her first appearance in court she was sternly warned by the police to repeat her confession, which she did. However, later she was able to talk to an interpreter who was sent by the Sri Lankan embassy and she explained in her own language the circumstances of what had happened as stated above. This version was also stated in court thereafter. According to reports, the judges who heard the case requested the father of the child to use his prerogative to pardon the young girl. However, the father refused to grant such pardon. On that basis the court sentenced her to death by beheading. This sentence was made on June 16, 2007. The said murder allegedly took place in February 2005 when Rizana Nafeek was only 17 years old. Sources said she had modified her age on her passport so that she could enter Saudi Arabia to work. Accordingly, she was still considered a minor by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child. SUGGESTED ACTION: Please write to His Royal Highness King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia seeking a pardon on behalf of Rizana Nafeek. To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER. SAMPLE LETTER. 1 .(to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia): Your Royal Highness, SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Young girl under death sentence needs clemency. This is to plead for clemency for the life of Rizana Nafeek who death sentence has now been confirmed by the courts. I plead with you to grant clemency to Nafeek Rizana, a young migrant worker who was 17 years old when charged with alleged infanticide and sentenced to death by the High Court in Dawi Dami. I trust that Your Excellency will understands that as both a migrant worker and a minor, Rizana would have been at best ill-prepared for trial, lacking both legal capability and necessary funds. Therefore, we desperately plead for Your Excellency to have mercy on Rizana and pardon her from the impending death penalty. Your Royal Highness has been quoted about human rights by a website “We regard human rights as a gift to mankind from the Creator, and not one gratuitously granted by one human being to another. Such human rights exist in the roots of every human civilization and are not a monopoly of one culture.” As a believer in Your Excellency’s goodness and the compassionate nature of Islam, I sincerely hope that Your Excellency will demonstrate mercy toward young Rizana and grant her clemency. PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: 1. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Royal Court, Riyadh SAUDI ARABIA Fax: +966 1 403 1185 / +966 1 403 3614. 2. His Excellency Minister of Interior PO Box 2933 Riyadh 11134 SAUDI ARABIA Fax: + 966 1 403 1185. 2 . (to The Minister of Interior): SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Young girl under death sentence needs clemency. I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding a young Sri Lankan migrant worker, Nafeek Rizana, who was sentenced to the death in Saudi Arabia for allegedly committing infanticide. I am aware that at the time of the said crime, Rizana was only 17 years old. The deadline for her appeal is imminent, 30 June 2007, but she cannot afford legal aid and the Sri Lanka government has yet to provide necessary legal and financial assistance. I am informed that Nafeek Rizana of Mutter, was charged with strangling the 4-month-old child of the family for whom she worked as a housemaid. At the time of the alleged crime, she was 17 years old, only a minor, according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, she has been sentenced to a beheading by the Daw Admi High Courts in Saudi Arabia on 30 May 2007. She was legally allowed only 30 days from the court decision date to appeal her case however it is reported that she is unable to appeal to the court due to lack of fund. I am learned that the Sri Lankan Embassy has pointed out that she once plead guilty; however, in a latter statement she said that the employer had harassed her to make a confession and therefore, her forced confession may not be valid. Moreover, it was apparently the employer who had demanded that she receive the death sentence. Given these circumstances, there seems to be reasonable grounds for appeal. Even though the Sri Lankan Embassy has made an appeal to the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau for funding the appellate case, the funding has not come and the appeal deadline fast approaches. I believe it is the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government to come to the aid of its citizens, especially when they are abroad and thereby disadvantaged. Most emphatically, I plead with you to hastily request the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to pardon the death sentence of Nafeek Rizana, especially given that she committed the alleged crime when she was only a child. As you well know, the death penalty cannot be reconciled with today’s international human rights standards. The statement also calls for a “moratorium” on the use of the death penalty. I urge you to intervene in a swift and sincere manner on the behalf of young Rizana. Surely, she would not have received such a harsh and inhuman sentence if she were tried in her country. I also urge you to directly contact to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and plead to exercise mercy and grant clemency to Nafeek Rizana. Save Rizana Nafeek. Mangala Samy Pungonda, the mother of Wengadasalam Sudeshkar yesterday, February 19, appealed for the final sum of Rs. 600,000/= (approximately US$ 5,000) for the saving of her son’s life from execution in Doha, Qatar. She thanked those who have already contributed to the raising of the sum of Rs. 3.5 Million and said that about […] SRI LANKA: The Officer-in-Charge the Moratuwa police could have saved the life of the chief monk. On February 4 the chief monk of Sunandonanda of Egodauyana, Moratuwa was assassinated by a group of persons during the evening. According to reports, at 5:30 pm and again at 7:30 pm, the chief monk made complaints to the Moratuwa Police stating that he was facing an imminent threat to his life and sought the […] HONG KONG/SRI LANKA: HK migrants, rights groups protest execution of Rizana Nafeek. (Hong Kong, January 18, 2013) Dozens of Hong Kong-based migrant workers, including Sri Lankans; migrant and human rights groups, protested today the execution of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan maid, in Saudi Arabia. (Photos courtesy of APMM) Nafeek was executed on January 9 for the death of her employer’s child. The Government of the Kingdom […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Beheading of Rizana Nafeek by Saudi Arabian Authorities Strongly Condemned by Sections of Sri Lankan Civil Society. 15 January 2013, 6:03 am We, the undersigned, condemn in the strongest terms the beheading of Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan domestic migrant worker convicted aged 17 in 2005, for the accidental death of an infant, in Saudi Arabia on the morning of 09 January 2013. We are shocked at the decision of Saudi Arabia’s […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: The AHRC writes to the UN and Sri Lankan President. (Note: We reproduce below the text of the letter written to the UN High Commissioner and the President of Sri Lanka requesting to cause an inquiry into the verdict and the execution of Rizana Nafeek who was executed in Saudi Arabia on January 9.) The AHRC requests all concerned persons to write to the UN […] SRI LANKA/ SAUDI ARABIA: UN expressed deep dismay on the execution of Rizana Nafeek. A Statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA/ SAUDI ARABIA: UN expressed deep dismay on the execution of Rizana Nafeek We express our deep dismay at the execution of a young Sri Lankan woman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Rizana Nafeek, who arrived in […] SAUDI ARABIA/ SRI LANKA: UK Foreign Office and France condemn killing of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia. Both the United Kingdom Foreign Office and France issued statements condemning the killing of Rizana Nafeek. However, the Sri Lankan government which expressed sadness about the killing did not make any statement specifically condemning the killing. Commenting on reports that Sri Lankan national, Ms Rizana Nafeek, was executed yesterday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Sri Lankan woman executed today in Saudi Arabia. The International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) condemns today’s execution of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan housemaid, in Saudi Arabia. She was beheaded in Dawadmi province near Riyadh. Rizana, a teenage domestic worker, was condemned to death after a four-month- old baby boy she was bottle-feeding choked and died in 2005. According to her birth […] SRI LANKA: Rizana Nafeek executed – President Mr. Rajapaksha bears full responsibility for this death. According to reports received, the Government of Saudi Arabia has executed Ms. Rizana Nafeek (1988 – 9 January 2013) today. The embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh has confirmed this report. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to categorically state, that the singular responsibility for this innocent young Sri Lankan woman’s death is upon the […] SRI LANKA: Lessons to be learned from the failure to save Rizana Nafeek. From the day on which Rizana was arrested on a false charge of murder to the day of her execution, seven years elapsed. During this time, if proper diplomatic effort was made with the required seriousness, the life of this young girl could have been saved. The following are some of the reasons for the […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Stop the Execution of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia. Sri Lankan immigrant maid sentenced to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia. A baby in her care choked to death & Rizana was accused of murder. Rizana was 17 at the time, couldn’t speak the language & had an unfair trial… The Asian Human Rights Commission is forwarding the attached online petition regarding the possibly imminent […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Justice for Rizana Nafeek. www.countercurrents.org 30 September, 2012 I want to tell you, and from your mouth to God’s ear, the tragic tale of Rizana Nafeek, an inconsequential and faceless housemaid from Sri Lankawho is presently incarcerated and awaiting public execution by beheading in Saudi Arabia. The tale begins in 2005 when Rizana, hardly 17 years old at the […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: To protect the life of Rizana Nafeek is an obligation of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka. The Asian Human Rights Commission’s reply to a letter from the Secretary to the Honourable President of Sri Lanka For the full dossier on Rizana Nafeek’s case please see here. We reproduce below a letter from Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President regarding a background report on Ms. Rizana Nafeek and the AHRC’s reply to […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Rizana Nafeek awaiting beheading is forgotten by the government. The AHRC releases a dossier on all relevant documents relating to the campaign to obtain release for Rizana Nafeek. Rizana Nafeek, arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death by beheading in 2007 is still languishing in the Dawadami Prison in Saudi Arabia as the government of Sri Lanka has failed to take the necessary diplomatic steps to […] SRI LANKA: Sentenced to death in S Arabia in 2007, Rizana Nafeek’s life hangs by a thread. Falsely charge of murder, the young woman has been in jail since she was 17. The European Union is closely monitoring the case. For Saudi authorities, the “case is not yet closed.” Sri Lanka is trying to get the victim’s family to pardon her. Saturday, May 12, 2012 By Asia News Colombo — Rizana Nafeek, […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Sri Lankan maid may be spared Saudi beheading. Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from Radio Australia. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from Radio Australia forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Updated December 27, 2011 21:29:04 A Sri Lankan teenager who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia may escape beheading due to […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Reconciliation committee to take up case of Sri Lankan housemaid. Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from The Arab News, written by Mohammed Rasooldeen. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from The Arab News forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWS Published: Aug 23, 2011 00:14 Updated: Aug 23, 2011 00:14 […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Rizana court documents for Saudi Judiciary’s consideration. Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Sunday Times. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong An article from the Sunday Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission http://sundaytimes.lk/110821/News/nws_037.html Legal documents pointing to the fact that housemaid Rizana Nafeek was under age at the time she went to Saudi […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Rizana Nafeek sentenced to death without a postmortem report. Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from The MUSLIMGUARDIAN. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from the MUSLIMGUARDIAN forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission From the MUSLIMGUARDIAN The newly obtained signed statement of Rizana Nafeek of Muthur, Sri Lanka, the housemaid who is now languishing in […] SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Medieval murder in modern times: Woman faces death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for crime she ‘committed as a child’ An article from the Daily Mail forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Medieval murder in modern times: Woman faces death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for crime she ‘committed as a child’ Medieval murder in modern times: Woman faces death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for crime she ‘committed as a […] Saudis prepare to behead teenage maid. The imminent execution of a teenage maid in Saudi Arabia drew fierce criticism yesterday and provoked condemnation of the kingdom's prolific use of capital punishment. The case has brought fresh attention to the draconian Saudi criminal justice system which is expected this year to set a new record in its use of the death sentence. Human rights campaigners yesterday urged the authorities not to behead a 19-year-old Sri Lankan maid found guilty of killing a baby in her care. According to the Saudi authorities, Rizana Nafeek admitted strangling the four-month-old boy while feeding him with a bottle. But Nafeek, whose job was not meant to include child care, has denied making any such admission. She claims the child had begun to choke before losing consciousness in spite of her desperate efforts to clear his airway. Tonight is the deadline for appeals in the case. Unless the Saudi authorities change the sentence or the parents of the victim offer clemency, Nafeek will have her head cut off by an executioner wielding a sword in front of a crowd of onlookers. In 2005 there were 191 executions but that record could be surpassed this year as 102 have already taken place just over half way through the year. Last year the total dipped to 38 but this year's figure already includes three women, according to Amnesty International. Nafeek, who had been denied a lawyer at her trial, is one of 5.6 million foreign workers who live in Saudi Arabia. The vast majority are domestic workers such as Nafeek, employed to look after the homes of oil-rich families. According to the Sri Lankan government, Nafeek had only been in the country a few weeks when the incident happened in May 2005. A government delegation tried to fly to Saudi Arabia to organise her appeal but it was delayed because of visa problems. Beheading has always been the punishment for murderers, rapists, drug traffickers and armed robbers in Saudi Arabia, which follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law. In February, four Sri Lankan workers were executed for armed robbery and their headless bodies left on public display in Riyadh, triggering harsh criticism from international rights groups. Amnesty International says some defendants are convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception. Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said: "It is an absolute scandal that Saudi Arabia is preparing to behead a teenage girl who didn't even have a lawyer at her trial. The Saudi authorities are flouting an international prohibition on the execution of child offenders by even imposing a death sentence on a defendant who was reportedly 17 at the time of the alleged crime." There are so many foreign workers in Saudi Arabia that they account for a large proportion of crimes committed. "The workers commit big crimes against Saudis," said Suhaila Hammad of Saudi Arabia's National Society for Human Rights. She said the number of executions had risen because crime had increased. She said that prisoners were treated humanely and that beheadings deterred crime. "Allah, our creator, knows best what's good for his people," she said. "Should we just think of and preserve the rights of the murderer and not think of the rights of others?" For Saudi Arabia's foreign domestic workers, employers' word is virtually law. The execution of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek, accused of strangling a baby she was caring for, highlights the lack of legal protections for foreign domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. January 11, 2013. By Christa Case Bryant Staff writer. Saudi Arabia’s execution Wednesday of a Sri Lankan maid, charged at age 17 with killing a baby left in her care, highlights the often abysmal conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of foreigners who come to the kingdom to serve as drivers, maids, and gardeners. With as many as 1.5 million foreigners employed as domestic workers, Saudi Arabia represents one of the world's largest markets for such help. But it is by no means the most hospitable. Domestic workers log more time on the job – 63.7 hours per week – than those in any other sector in the country, yet they are afforded none of the protections granted to other employees, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report issued yesterday. Employers, who routinely take their domestic workers’ passports upon arrival to prevent any attempts at escape, can require them to work an unlimited number of hours per week. While workers make enough to send millions back to their families in remittances, they are not legally entitled to weekly rest or paid leave, and there is no minimum wage requirement. Human Rights Watch and others have documented beatings, rape, and effective slavery, with some employers withholding payment all together. “To the best of my knowledge, the foreigners do not have any rights or protections under Saudi law, which is one reason why it’s desirable to have them,” says Thomas Lippman, author of “Saudi Arabia on the Edge: The Uncertain Future of an American Ally.” “They’re not going to organize or make trouble because they can immediately be deported or, for that matter, put to the sword.” In Atlanta, a glimpse of why ‘defund the police’ has faltered. 'Woe unto them' The ILO has highlighted the vulnerability of domestic workers worldwide, whose numbers have grown by 50 percent – to at least 52.6 million – in the past two decades. A vast majority – more than 80 percent – of those workers are women, and many don’t even have a high school diploma. With the exception of Jordan, the Middle East as a whole is notorious for not affording enough legal protections to domestic workers; some 99 percent of workers fall outside the jurisdiction of existing labor laws, the ILO estimates. While Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have taken some steps to improve their conditions, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most precarious places for them to work. “If you go into a Saudi supermarket – you’ll see small groups of Filipino women and they’re chatting with each other and if they have decent jobs … they’re OK,” says Mr. Lippman, who covered Saudi Arabia for many years as a journalist and frequently returns. “But woe unto them if they fall afoul of the system.” That’s not just because they’re foreign, he contends. After all, foreigners make up roughly 90 percent of Saudi Arabia’s workforce – only a fraction of them engaged as domestic workers. Instead, their mistreatment – including the execution of the maid today – often stems from cultural, ethnic, or racial prejudices. “Had she been British, she would have been put on a plane long before now,” says Lippman. 'Out of step' Amnesty International condemned the execution of Rizana Nafeek, whose trial was widely seen as flawed. She maintained that the baby choked while she was bottling-feeding him. Earlier this week, Amnesty International said that “a disproportionate number of foreign nationals, mainly migrant workers from countries in the global South, have been executed in Saudi Arabia over recent years.” “Despite a chorus of pleas for Saudi Arabian authorities to step in and reconsider Rizana Nafeek’s death sentence, they went ahead and executed her anyway, proving once more how woefully out of step they are with their international obligations regarding the use of the death penalty,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program. Of the two main English newspapers in Saudi Arabia, the more mainstream Arab News did not even mention Ms. Nafeek’s execution today, instead choosing to cover everything from new jobs programs for people with special needs to residency and work-permit violators who were caught selling hot and cold beverages to truck drivers in Jeddah. The more edgy Saudi Gazette featured the maid’s story prominently but focused mainly on Sri Lanka’s anger over the incident. It did note, however, that an Indonesia maid also faces the death penalty for killing a child, and an Ethiopian maid is being investigated for trying to kill her sponsor’s son. While advocates for labor reform face an uphill battle in Saudi, there is at least more of a collective awareness of the problem now than even 15 years ago, says Lippman. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Nafeek’s story was the second most-viewed article on the Saudi Gazette website yesterday evening. One reader identifying himself as Abu Sabri, decried her “unjust” killing. “Rizana survived a war, and the tsunami. Abject poverty made her leave her family to work as a housemaid to support her family…. Why would she kill a baby a few days after her coming unless she was insane. Then she is not guilty…. This is not justice. Rizana has been killed unjustly. ” Saudis Defend Maid's Execution by Decapitation, Citizens Angered. Saudi Arabian officials defended their decision to execute a maid accused of murder, angering human rights groups. Rizana Nafeek was beheaded last week, setting off a whirlwind of criticism even though the government has said it stands by its decision. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia categorically rejects any interference in its affairs or in the provisions of its judiciary under any justifications," a statement by the Saudi Press Agency read, according to CNN. Riyadh "deplores the statements made… over the execution of a Sri Lankan maid who had plotted and killed an infant by suffocating him to death, one week after she arrived in the kingdom," al Jazeera reported. Rizana told Human Rights Watch that her "confession" of the baby's murder was made under duress. The baby's family, however, maintained that she purposely strangled the child "after an argument with the child's mother," al Jazeera said. Rizana said that the baby choked while he was being fed. One of the key issues at hand is Rizana's age and whether she was old enough to be sentenced to death. The Sri Lankan government has stated that Rizana was only 17, making her a minor and ineligible to work in Saudi Arabia. However, she allegedly had a passport, which said she was 21. "As per her passport, she was 21-years-old when she committed the crime. The Kingdom does not allow minors to be brought as workers," a spokesman for the Saudi government told al Jazeera. "The passport is an official document issued by her government," the official statement read. And government officials said they had tried to avert executing Rizana by speaking with the family of the deceased child and encouraging "clemency or a payment of 'blood money.'" Outside groups also tried to intervene and spare Rizana's life. These groups argued that Rizana was not provided with a lawyer or given basic rights, in addition to the allegations of a fraudulent passport. "We pointed out to Saudi officials that Rizana came to their country as a housemaid," External Affairs Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama said in a statement. "She was not competent or trained to look after a baby, which she had been assigned to by her employer." According to al Jazeera, three people have already been executed in 2013. Free CP Newsletters. Join over 250,000 others to get the top stories curated daily, plus special offers!