Stephen Munyakho

SAUDI ARABIA: KENYAN FACING EXECUTION GETS ONE-YEAR REPRIEVE

October 27, 2024:

Stephen Munyakho now known as Abdulkareem convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia is sure of staying alive for the next year after the Kenyan government successfully negotiated an extension on the date when he was supposed to be executed.
Munyakho was due for execution on 26 November 2024 following his incarceration in Shimeisi Prison in the Governorate of Mecca.  
Munyakho has since spent 13 years in different Saudi prisons.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on October 24, 2024 said that negotiations between the Kenyan Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Authorities, and the aggrieved widow whose son was murdered led to the extension of the execution date. According to the PS, the extension will facilitate the settling of outstanding obligations.
"I am pleased to inform that after strenuous negotiations between our Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Authorities and the Widow, the impending execution of judgment against Stephen Munyakho (Abdulkareem) due on November 26, 2024 has been postponed for another one year to allow parties settle outstanding obligations," the PS wrote.
The PS further expressed hope to conclude the matter soon believing that the cordial relationship between Kenya Saudi Arabia will allow the matter to be finalized.
"We shall continue relying on our two countries' cordial relations towards concluding the matter."
Sing’oei also thanked Kenyans, partners, and stakeholders goodwill that has enabled the case to be delayed as Kenya seeks to get its citizen off the hook.
The 50-year-old was working in Saudi Arabia when he got involved in a fight with a colleague identified as Abdul Halim Mujahid Makrad Saleh (a Yemeni national) on April 9, 2011. Following the fight, the colleague sustained injuries and succumbed to them.
Munyakho was convicted of manslaughter, which was later reversed to a death sentence after the deceased’s family filed an appeal at the courts in Saudi Arabia. He was sentenced to death by sword.
Since then, there have been efforts behind the scenes by his family and the Kenyan government to save him from the sentence.
Munyakho has the option of escaping the execution if he can pay 10 million Saudi Arabia Riyals (SAR) (Ksh 150 million) in terms of a "diya" or blood money settlement. 
“There was also the “diya” or “blood money” option – financial compensation under Islamic law – which is paid to the victim or heirs of a victim in the cases of murder, bodily harm or property destruction by mistake,” Dorothy Kweyu, Munyakho's mother recounted to Daily Nation in an article dated March 9, 2024.
The family failed to raise the money by the deadline they had been provided — May 15, 2024.
While the suspect has one more year to fight, there are other options on the table that he can explore. 
These include: a reduction on his sentence, transferring the case back to Kenya, or negotiating an out-of-court settlement between the two families, which would likely involve financial compensation.