01-09-2008, 10:28 AM
DAWADMI: The interpreter who translated the statements of a Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan maid sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a Saudi baby in her care is an ethnically non-Tamil Kannadiga speaker.
The revelations were made during a high court hearing held here yesterday.
Kateb Al-Shammary, the lawyer representing the maid, Rizana Nafeek, asked whether the interpreter, Karim Mawiya Cader Mohammed, was qualified to accurately translate Tamil into Arabic.
He told the court that he wanted to know whether Mohammed — who has been working for an electronics company in Dawadmi for 20 years and is originally from the Indian state of Karnataka — is proficient enough in Tamil to interpret Nafeek’s police and court statements.
The court told the attorney that it would summon two witnesses to the next hearing to vouch for the translator’s honesty, integrity and ability to translate from Tamil.
Mohammed told the court that he translated Nafeek’s statement in May 2005 when she was brought to Dawadmi, from Jezma, some 100 km from Dawadmi.
“I come to courts on request for translation purposes and I am paid SR100 per case,” Karim told Arab News. He added that he knows Tamil which is widely spoken in India’s Tamil Nadu state and Sri Lanka.
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Fuente: http://www.inttranews.net