By Sumaiya Rizvi

The beheading of a female and male Sri Lankan who were found guilty for committing theft and murder had been done in secret while five other Sri Lankans involved in the incident were sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Saudi government, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said yesterday.

“Our appeals for them had failed and they were sentenced a year ago for a crime committed in 2006. We were not informed of the date of execution and the Saudi law does not allow it while they also do not release the bodies of the dead,” Ranawaka said.

According to Ranawaka both male and female victims had been migrant workers. While the latter had later married an Indian who was also beheaded along with them, they left behind two children, he said.

“The SLFEB intervened and brought down the children to live under the guardianship of their grandmother,” Ranawaka said. The female victim has had two children in her previous marriage in Sri Lanka and those children too were living with their grandmother. The SLFEB had sponsored her mother who had visited her in Prison prior to her beheading, he said.

Meanwhile Ranawaka said that the appeal was still proceeding in the case of an underage domestic worker Rizana who was alleged to have killed a baby.