Earlier this month at a prison in Riyadh Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafik, who was only 17 was beheaded for smothering a four-month-old baby in Saudi Arabia in 2005. DESIGN: GIBRAN ASHRAF
Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announced that women under 25 were now banned from going to the Arab state to work as maids, adding that it was the first step towards a worldwide travel ban for low-paying jobs.
The move was in response to the execution earlier this month at a prison in Riyadh of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafik, who was only 17 when she was charged with smothering a four-month-old baby in Saudi Arabia in 2005.
"As a first step we are raising the age limit to 25. We will gradually move towards a total ban on our women going abroad to do low-paying jobs," Rambukwella told reporters.
He did not say by when the total ban would kick in, but said the authorities have started to discourage women from going to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia where most maids are paid less than $300 a month.
Nafik was beheaded after she was found guilty of smothering an infant in her care after an argument with the child's mother, the Saudi interior ministry has said.
The US and the United Nations led international condemnation of the Saudi authorities over the January 9 execution.
Nearly 1.7 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad and the $6 billion they sent home last year is a key source of foreign exchange for the government.
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As a Sri Lankan, I am ecstatic that we are finally going to halt the exploitation of our women by Middle Eastern nations. Its true that the remittances are important to our economy but I would rather bear the initial economic shock rather than our women, whatever their race or ethnicity be degraded and be made to bear untold harassment by a society who do not consider people of our skin color as humans. No wonder the Middle East is a land cursed to suffer turmoil for eternity.
Please give credit to the Sultanate and the police inSaudi Arabia. They must have done some investigations beore reaching this verdict. Of course that does not mean that she should have been beheaded. I feel she should have been given a long jail sentence.
so long as the petrol is pumping the world will remain oblivous to these public beheadings, modern day slavery, open discrimination to non arabs, women not being allowed to drive, child abuse in the form of elderly marrying teenage girls, non stop support to the trouble makers around the world....list will go on an on and this paper wont publish if they have a stake in petro dollars as well
@Zalim singh: If you donot like Saudis and their rules, then do sth to stop your countrymen /women to go to KSA for $ 300/month.
@zalim singh i m not saying that he should b speared.....i m saying rule of law must b observed no matter what.....but the crime rate is under control in saudi if we compare it with other nations.....thats the reason that today indians r crying for hanging the rapiest.....and in many provinces the govt have banned skirts and stuff for women......islamic laws r based on logic.....best laws ever made......
@Kanwal:
Then don't go there. Even with all the stories of their brutality, everyone wants to go there. Sorry but people's demand to go there shows they are not really that brutal. If they were, demand for Saudi Visas should have dried up.
@Truth Slayer You indeed is a truth slayer! What kind of a twisted mind you have? Why would a teenaged Srilankan maid would be motivated to kill a toddler of just four months old? You, clearly seems to have a great love for the Arabs, but, ask your fellow countrymen who live in the Middle east and are very well exposed to the attitude of the Arabs towards others, particularly at the Pakistani expatriates living there. Arabs do respect and are in awe only at the white skinned Europeans and Americans. They are able to get away with defying the world just because of the petro dollars, otherwise these same camel riders used beg alms from the visiting hajis. Once the natural wealth runs out, I am sure, they would again be a dustbin of the world.
@Truth Slayer: The maid reportedly denied deliberately killing the child, claiming that s/he had died after choking on a bottle. The parents, wanting justice (and under Islamic law) got her beheaded. Additionally, medical reports suggest that her biological age was 17 - therefore a minor by any application of modern law. Her papers were falsified to facilitate her travel to Saudi Arabia.
South Asians are treated as third-class citizens in Saudi Arabia, especially those occupying low-wage and low-status jobs such as these. Meanwhile, our governments are doing nothing to stem emigration - people remain desperate to leave the region due to the hardships they face, even resorting to becoming maids for the likes of the Saudis.
@Truth Slayer what a shame she was 25? yes beheading is human and completely natural. and of course the working conditions aka slavery the mighty Arabs impose on their workers are all about fair game. Approve this if you have any amount of dignity left. I have nt forgotten the Arab prince who beat one such slave of his to death in the heart of London in a hotel. imagining what they would do in their own homeland. But of course its all about justice, eh?
good job Saudi.....ur domestic policy is appreciable......to control crimes rule of law must b observed......
First, she is a child killer, but I guess murdering the murderer nowadays is considered a crime.. Second, her passport, which her own country is responsible for the infromation listed in it, says she's 25 years old, so does her ambassy in Riyadh.. Third, approve this comment if you have any amount of digintiy, it apperas that journalists nowadays are too lazy to search for the truth or caring about.. Just report stories that and add special flavor to make the reader emotional.. and it makes me sick