SAUDI ARABIA TRIPLES BLOOD MONEY

September 6, 2011: Saudi Arabia has decided to triple diya, the money paid by a killer to the victim’s relatives under Islamic law, but kept the sum for female victims at half that for male victims, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported. The Kingdom’s supreme judicial authority said it raised diya to SR300,000 ($80,000) from SR100,000 ($26,666) in accidental death and SR400,000 ($106,666) in premeditated murder, the newspaper said. “The increase in diya is in line with a recent royal decision and it will be soon enforced by all courts in the country… diya for female victims will remain at half that for male victims,” said Hamad al Razeen, a judge at the general court in Jeddah. Blood money values have been static for the last 29 years. The Supreme Council of Scholars had called for reviewing diya in light of the increasing prices of camels, which were used as blood money in the old Islamic age. According to Sharia rules, the heirs of a murdered person should be compensated with 100 camels. (Sources: Arab News, 07/09/2011; digitaljournal.com, 08/09/2011; emirates247.com, 11/09/2011)