17 years on, Saudi family pardons son’s killer - in return for building mosque
Family demands mosque be named after victim and killer depart city
Cairo: A Saudi family has pardoned the killer of their son 17 years after the murder and linked the pardon to building a mosque in his memory, a local newspaper has reported.
The dead man, identified as Abdullah Al Harithi, was killed in the western Saudi city of Taif around 17 years ago, Okaz newspaper reported without disclosing the circumstances of the murder.
A local committee has since made reconciliation efforts that have culminated in the conditional clemency.
“Members of the reconciliation committee as well as volunteers made strenuous efforts,” the panel’s head Ahmed Al Zahrani said.
The family agreed to pardon the killer in return for constructing a mosque in their dead son’s name in Taif and the killer’s departure from the city, he added.
“A reconciliation agreement has been signed,providing for the mosque building and evacuation from the city,” Al Zahrani said.
He expressed appreciation to the victim’s parents for their humanitarian gesture.