SL maid to be stoned to death; ministry files appeal

18 November 2015 11:22 am

Government had filed an appeal before the Riyad Court in Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the Sri Lankan female domestic worker, who was recently sentenced to be stoned to death after being found guilty of having a clandestine affair, Foreign Employment Ministry said.

The Ministry sources said the woman was married and having children in Sri Lanka, when she had convicted for adultery with a Sri Lankan youth employed in Saudi Arabia.

After she was produced before the Riyad Court, the woman had pleaded guilty and she was sentenced to be stoned to death according to Saudi Arabian law.

The youth who had having the affair with Lankan woman had been given 100 lashes as punishment, Foreign Employment Minister Thalatha Athukorala’s Media Secretary Nalin Rajapaksha said.

“Since she had pleaded guilty, we are unable to request the Saudi government to lift the sentence. Therefore, our minister Athukorala filed an appeal before the Riyad Court with the purpose of lifting the woman’s punishment. The ministry had already made payments for the lawyers too through the Saudi Embassy in Sri Lanka,” Mr. Rajapaksha said.

According to the ministry, eight women have been sentenced to death in Lebanon, one had been sentenced to be stoned to death and one woman had been murdered in Kuwait.

Recently, Minister Athukorala told media that the Foreign Employment Act would be amended soon to add several requirements to facilitate migrant workers, especially for those who work in the Mid-Eastern countries. (Piyumi Fonseka)