SL maid sentenced to be stoned will return next year

12 February 2016 02:05 am

The 45-year-old Sri Lankan woman whose death sentence by stoning for adultery, was commuted by the Saudi Arabian government last December, will return to Sri Lanka in the middle of next year after completing her term of imprisonment, the Foreign Employment Bureau (FEB) stated yesterday.

The woman had been working in Saudi Arabia as a housemaid when she had been convicted for adultery with a Sri Lankan youth employed there.

As a result of the Sri Lanka government’s intervention pleading sympathetic consideration in the case, the Saudi Arabian government commuted the death sentence, imposing a jail term of three years.

“At the time she was imprisoned, she had already spent one and half years in jail. Therefore, only another one and half years needed to be spent in jail. Her term of imprisonment ends in June next year. We will make all the arrangements to bring her back to the country after the completion of her sentence,” Foreign Employment Bureau Spokesman Madushan Kularatne said. (Piyumi Fonseka)