{"id":69451,"date":"2013-01-14T07:50:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T07:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=69451"},"modified":"2013-01-16T23:39:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-16T23:39:45","slug":"rizana-and-shirani-adoption-of-presumption-of-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rizana-and-shirani-adoption-of-presumption-of-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Rizana And Shirani: Adoption Of \u201cPresumption Of Guilt\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kamal Nissanka<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kamal Nissanka<\/p><\/div>\n

Two events occurred during the second week of January 2013 shocked the Sri Lankan as well as the international community. Both events were related two Sri Lankan daughters. One was an under educated minor, from a poor, rural background of Muttur, Trincomalee who was sent to do domestic service in Saudi Arabia and other hailed from Kurunegala , educated\u00a0 at Anuradhapura, Colombo and London was the 4th citizen of Sri Lanka ,destined to become \u00a0the first woman chief justice of \u00a0the island. Both were fallen victims of \u2018unfair trials\u2019 based on the legal principle of \u201cpresumption of guilt\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms.Rizana Nafeek<\/a><\/span> of Sri Lanka who was born on 4th of February, 1988(Sri Lanka\u2019s Independence Day) was an underage girl at the departure to Saudi Arabia. She was sent to Saudi Arabia to work as a house maid on a forged passport that had included a wrong birthday by Sri Lankan government authorities.<\/p>\n

The state of Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, governed by sharia law<\/em> and decrees of the king.<\/p>\n

According to Wikipedia<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Saudi Arabia, a judge is empowered to disregard previous judgments (even of his own) and will apply his personal interpretations of \u2018sharia\u2019 to any a particular case. Traditional tribal law remains significant. In this country judge and lawyer are part of \u201culema\u201d, the country\u2019s religious leadership. Those arrested are often not informed of the crime of what they are accused of or given access to a lawyer and are subject to \u00a0\u00a0ill-treatment and torture if they do not confess. At trial there is a presumption of guilt and accuse did often unable examine witnesses and evidence or present a legal defense. Most trials are held in secret\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDeath sentence in Saudi Arabia imposed for various crimes by way of beheading, stoning, and shooting, even by crucification.\u00a0 \u00a0Only three countries in the world including Saudi Arabia impose death sentence to children\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the age of 17 Rizana had to look after a three year old baby and feed him. It is alleged that the death of the infant had occurred as a result of chocking while feeding milk from a bottle. She had been taken to police and had been asked to make a statement under duress and there was no Tamil translator to make things clear at the police. \u00a0The statement was a forced confession.\u00a0 She was physically assaulted to sign it. There was no post mortem for the body of the child who died and no evidence regarding a medical report has emerged. Her birth certificate clearly shows that she was a minor, but there was no lawyer to assist her at various stages. Finally she was convicted and held for years in the death row, Sri Lanka and number of International agencies wanted to get her released on the ground of minority but all the attempts were in vain and to our dismay Rizana Nafeek was beheaded publicly \u00a0on the 9th<\/sup> of January 2013 in Saudi Arabia the birth place of Islam, reminding us the beheading of Madduma Bandara, the child hero nearly two centuries ago for a wrong committed by his father, Ehelepola \u00a0Maha Adikarama, in the city of sacred tooth relic.<\/p>\n

The gruesome killing of Rizana raises lots of issues. Many countries, human rights organizations and international organizations\u00a0 \u00a0vehemently condemned the inhuman punishment.<\/p>\n

During the same week on Friday the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0 depending on the\u00a0 Parliamentary Select Committee report that has been quashed by the Court of Appeal\u00a0 by way\u00a0 of a writ of certiorari on the basis of an earlier constitutional interpretation of the Supreme Court regarding non application of \u201dStanding Orders\u2019 to impeach a superior court judge. The government parliamentary group passed the said illegal impeachment making noises on a self imposed concept of \u201cparliamentary supremacy\u201d which is alien to our existing constitution.<\/p>\n

As in the case of Rizana, considerable\u00a0 pressure\u00a0 was mounted\u00a0 by Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Judges Association, International Bar Association, Commonwealth Bar Association, International Commission of Jurists\u00a0 , diplomatic missions, opposition political parties, social organizations and individuals on the Sri Lanka government to withdraw the \u00a0flawed impeachment of \u00a0Dr.Shirani Bandaranaike<\/a><\/span> , Sri\u00a0 Lanka government\u00a0 adopted its own \u201csharia law<\/em>\u201d to get rid the chief justice, while the apex court had declared it null and void.<\/p>\n

As in the case of Rizana, Dr.Shirani\u00a0 Bandaranayake\u00a0 also faced a trial indoor( in camera). She was insulted by the \u201cjudges\u201d <\/em><\/strong>, threatened by\u00a0 supporters of those judges<\/em><\/strong> on her way to Diyawanna<\/em> court house\u00a0 and back, finally encircled her official residence , uttered abusive words ,prepared \u201cmilk rice\u201d ,a symbol of triumphalism in the mindset of Sinhalese. As\u00a0 in the case of sharia<\/em> law , she was not informed who the witnesses were, not allowed\u00a0 to cross examine , no time was given to go through the 1000 odd papers, no opportunity \u00a0was given to \u00a0forward a\u00a0 legal defense . Dr Bandaranayake \u00a0was found guilty by a \u201ccourt\u201d<\/em><\/strong> which has no jurisdiction to try her as declared by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The court <\/em><\/strong>at least did not allow the 117 prosecutors or complainants to prosecute the case against Dr.Bandaranayake. There was no \u201cproved misbehavior\u201d as shown in the constitution but \u201cjudges\u201d<\/em><\/strong> adopted the \u00a0uncivilized, uncultured , barbaric sharia law<\/em> , \u201cprinciple of presumption of guilt\u201d<\/em><\/strong> demanding Dr. Bandaranayake to disprove the presumption. Now she is destined to be publicly beheaded by way of removal from office. Both Rizana and Shirani were victims of flawed systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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