Court Begins Rizana Retrial

Another small step forward for Rizana Nafeek in her bid to escape the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. Her "retrial" began Saturday and may take several steps before a final disposition is made. It's hard to judge from here but I'd say the trend is in her favor. International attention to cases such as this often brings positive results. Even Saudi Arabia is aware that human rights violations present them in a negative light.
FROM ARABNEWS.COM:
Court Begins Rizana Retrial
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News —

DAWADMI, 9 December 2007 — A three-member court, headed by Dawadmi High Court chief judge Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Rosaimi, yesterday reviewed the case of the Sri Lankan housemaid who has been sentenced to death for killing a four-month-old infant in her care.
The retrial began when the Court of Cassation instructed the high court to review its decisions following an appeal by Kateb Al-Shammary, the attorney for Rizana Nafeek. The woman was convicted of murdering the infant on June 16 and the appeal was filed on July 15.
Al-Shammary cited several reasons why the maid should not be punished for her alleged action. He claimed that she was under-age at the time of the offense and that she was brought to the Kingdom as a housemaid and not as a nanny.
Al-Shammary told Arab News that he was hopeful the case would end in Nafeek’s favor. “There may be several such hearings before the final verdict is given,” the lawyer said, adding that there would be several stages in this case and he cannot say when the final verdict would be given.
Nafeek allegedly confessed to the crime shortly after her arrest, but she has since retracted the confession and said it was a misunderstanding related to stress and her inability to understand Arabic.
In her statement to the court, she said that at the time of her arrival in Saudi Arabia, she was 17 and that a recruitment agent had falsified her documents in order to obtain a passport.
According to the passport, her date of birth was Feb. 2, 1982; a copy of her birth certificate, however, gives the actual date of birth as Feb. 4, 1988.