Sri Lankan deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva (L) speaks as Minister of Foreign Employment Thalatha Athukorala looks on during a press conference in Colombo on Wednesday.

The death sentence imposed on a Sri Lankan housemaid for adultery was commuted to a three-year jail term by a three-member Appeals Court in Dawadmi on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old married woman with two children was sentenced to death in August after being found guilty of having an affair with a Sri Lankan bachelor. Her lover was given a sentence of 100 lashes.

The successful appeal was confirmed by a senior official from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh. The sentence of her lover is also under appeal by the Sri Lankan government, according to reports.

Last month, the Colombo government hired a lawyer to lodge an appeal to save the maid. Speaking to Arab News from Colombo, Upul Deshapriya, spokesman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), said the appeal was an initiative of Foreign Employment Minister Thalatha Athukorala.

Deshapriya said the maid has already served two years and would serve one more year to complete her sentence. The official said the Riyadh mission has been looking after the interests of the two accused in accordance with the directives of the government.

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