Prison Life

Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan teenager Rizana Nafeek who is on death row is being treated well by her jailors and was hoping an appeal of her sentence will succeed, media reports said. Sometimes prisoners are kept on death row for years, before suddenly being taken and beheaded. "Rizana was so confident that she told me to bring some good clothes to wear when she comes out of jail," Arab News quoted social worker Kifaya Ifthikar, who visited her in jail, as saying.

"She also wanted a Tamil translation of the Holy Qur'an, which I gave the woman jailor to hand to her."

Rizana, who was employed as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia, was condemned to death after a baby died while in her care. The Asian Human Rights Commission has already put up money for her appeal.

In prison, Rizana was in normal clothes and said that she spends her time reciting the Qur'an, praying and watching television, Arab News said.

Kifaya said Rizana said that her jailors, who are all women, look after her well.

"The place is fully air-conditioned and there is a TV for Rizana to pass her time," Kifaya said, adding that she was given 60 riyals a month to buy toiletries some of which she was savin