Najla Wafa’s father, Yehya Wafa, has announced that his daughter has sent a letter to the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz, refusing any royal pardon that doesn’t grant her amnesty.
Wafa spoke to independent Tahrir channel about his daughter’s charges, for which she has been sentenced to 500 lashes.
Wafa was arrested in September 2009 following a business dispute with a princess of the Saudi royal family.
“We expect a royal pardon now as the Eid is approaching,” Wafa said, “we hope that this pardon isn’t granted until Najla’s innocence is proven.”
Wafa said that his daughter did not commit the crimes she has being sentenced for, adding that if King Abdullah were to look into the documents related to her case, he would discover that she deserves amnesty.
“A royal pardon would mean that she is guilty of the charges,” Wafa said, “while in fact she isn’t.”
Wafa insisted that King Abdullah has received very little information about Najla’s case, adding that he is being subjected to a blackout by his aide regarding the case.
“We have exerted great efforts, only to reach the conclusion that the only human being on the face of the earth capable of doing Najla right and helping her is the custodian of the two holy mosques,” Wafa said.
Wafa added that the fact that Najla’s dispute is with a member of the royal family should not stand in the way of King Abdullah helping Najla.
Human rights organisations have called for an investigation into the arrest and subsequent conviction of Egyptian Najla Wafa in Saudi Arabia.
She was held in detention for over a year and a half before she was sentenced to five years in prison and 500 lashes in June 2011. Such a high number of lashes are usually carried out over a lengthy period of time. Saudi authorities have reported that Wafa has already been given 300 of her lashes.
