Three persons including two Sri Lankans, a male and a female were beheaded yesterday after a Saudi Arabial court rejected their appeals over the killing of an elderly female at Jeddah in 2006, said Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) chairman Kingsley Ranawaka.

The two Sri Lankans and an Indian were sentenced to death while the other five in the group of seven were sentenced to five years in prison by a Saudi Arabian court for strangling to death an elderly female at her home in Jeddah and robbing her jewellery.

The convicted persons had appealed against their sentences, said the SLBFE chairman. However the court had rejected their appeals and the death sentences were carried out yesterday, added SLBFE chairman Attorney-at-Law Ranawaka.

The beheaded female is a resident of Kinniya in Trincomalee and had gone to Saudi Arabiaas a housemaid several years ago. A mother-of-two at the time of her departure, she had changed her job illegally in Saudi Arabia, according to reports. At her new place of employment, she had developed an affair with the Indian national and has had two children by him.

The SLBFE earlier had taken steps to bring her two children who were living in a prison camp to Sri Lankaand also arranged for her mother to visit Saudi Arabia to appeal against the death penalty, said chairman Kingsley Ranawaka.