RIZANA UPDATE 12 Dec 2007

Rizana update 12 Dec 2007
FROM LANKARATES.COM:
Sri Lanka maid's "forced" confession may still be used in death penalty appeal: AHRC
11 December, 2007 10:53:00
An Asian human rights body expressed concern Tuesday that an allegedly coerced confession by a Sri Lankan domestic worker sentenced to death for murder in Saudi Arabia may still be used against her in an appeal of the verdict to a higher court.
Teenager Rizana Nafeek, accused of murdering a four-month old baby while working in a Saudi Arabian home, was sentenced to death by Saudi Arabia’s Dawadani court even though she protested her innocence.
The verdict was appealed to the country’s Appellate Court which began hearing her case on December 8.
“While the appeal is being heard there is still reason for concern as Saudi Arabian law places high value on confessions and whether the confession is obtained through duress does not become the subject matter of a separate inquiry,” said the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in a statement.
The Hong-Kong based organization said a confession obtained through duress is not regarded as inadmissible evidence under Saudi Arabian law.
Nafeek, who was 17 at the time of the alleged crime, was tortured by police to obtain a confession, the rights group charged.
“Therefore there is still the possibility that this legal principle may be applied even at the appeal stage despite of there being no collaborative evidence of any sort to indicate that there was any intentional murder,” the organization said in its statement.
“There are many persons in Saudi Arabia itself who have made representation in favour of Rizana Nafeek in this case and have stated many principles within Shariah Law to the effect that under the circumstances of the present case there is good reason not to attach undue weight to the confession but that all the circumstances should be taken in their totality in dealing with the case,” it added.
Nafeek claims the death was accidental.
“She claimed that while she was trying to bottle feed the infant without any assistance from any adult, the child choked which resulted in the death,” the AHRC said.
“There was no intentional killing and she had only been working in the household for just a few days before the incident happened,” it added.
AHRC, which is helping finance her appeal, called on people to appeal to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for clemency and pardon.

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