SAUDI ARABIA: SR30 MILLION RAISED TO SAVE NATIONAL FROM EXECUTION

May 5, 2014: A Saudi court annulled the death sentence and ordered the release of a 21-year-old convicted local killer just a few days before he was to be executed after his family managed to pay SR30 million diya (blood money) to the victim’s relatives.
The court in the northwestern Saudi town of Hail had given the relatives of Yasser Al Shammari a few weeks to pay the diya (blood money) after the victim’s relatives demanded that sum in exchange for pardoning Shammari in line with Islamic law.
‘Ajel’ newspaper said a campaign launched by Shammari’s tribe through local social networks resulted in raising the funds just days before he was to be beheaded.
Shammari was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of killing Zaid Saudi from another Saudi tribe during a fight a few years ago. (Sources: emirates247.com, 05/05/2014)