Sri Lankan woman’s death sentence on hold after appeal

The stoning to death of a 45-year-old Sri Lankan woman, who had committed adultery, has been put on hold after an appeal to the court to review the punishment, the International Business Times reported.

The mother-of-three had been working in Riyadh as a maid since 2013 and was convicted in August 2015.

The Sharia Court sentenced her to death for cheating, while the single man would be lashed 100 times but would be allowed to live.

Her husband had contacted the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) to intervene.

The spokesperson of SLBFE Upul Deshapriya said that the Sri Lankan government has contacted Saudi Arabia to review the punishment.

“She has accepted the crime four times in the courts,” Reuters reported Deshapriya as saying. “But the Foreign Employment Bureau has hired lawyers and have appealed against the case...The appeal is going on. Also from the foreign ministry side, they are in negotiation with the Saudi government on a diplomatic level.”

Sri Lankan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Azmi Thassim said, “The problem lies with the lack of awareness of local laws. If someone is not happy with the laws of the Kingdom, they should choose not to come.”

A migrant worker in Saudi Arabia can’t file for a return visa without the permission of the employer.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka statistics stated that Sri Lanka made $7 billion through remittances given to the 279,952 Sri Lankan workers in Saudi Arabia in 2014, according to wsws.org. Sri Lanka’s policy, hence, is to disburse growing outrage among the public, while keeping the Middle East country appeased.

Earlier this year, an Indian maid’s hand was severed by her employer in Riyadh. The Saudi Arabian ambassador to India, Majed Hassan Ashoor, fled the country even as reports about him sexually abusing two Nepali maids came to light.