Manama: The Saudi prince who was executed on Tuesday for the murder of a friend met his family for around four hours in a highly emotional goodbye, a witness has said.
Recounting the last hours of Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Turki Bin Saud Al Kabeer, the imam of Al Safa mosque in the capital Riyadh said that the convict and the family were crying throughout their meeting held late on Monday at the prison.
“The family was called in to bid the prince goodbye and during the time spent together, you could see only tears and hear only expressions and sighs of sadness,” Mohammad Al Maslookhi posted on his account on the Twitter microblog, Saudi news site Al Marsad reported.
“Turki then offered prayers and read from the Holy Quran until dawn. At around 7am, the warden took him to a place where his last will was written for him as he could not use his own hand, He then made the ablution and at 11am, he was taken to the mosque. In the meantime, the immediate family of the victim Adel Al Muhaimeed who was shot dead in a group brawl three years ago, were kept at their home and had their mobile phones switched off. When they arrived to the square designated for carrying out the execution, senior members of the larger family tried to intervene with Adel’s father to pardon Turki and accept diya (blood money). However, the father said he would not forgive and insisted on the execution of his son’s killer.”
Following the Dhohr (noon) prayers, a member of Turki’s family tried to convince the father to accept blood money and set him free, but the attempt failed.
Islamic law treats homicide and unintentional homicide as a civil dispute between people, and not a corrective punishment by the state to maintain order.
When the victim’s family grants a pardon for blood money or unilaterally, the state is not allowed to prosecute.
In the cases of death, injury, and damage, the prosecutor is the victim or the victim’s family and if the family or heir accepts the diyah (blood money or the financial compensation paid to the victim or heirs of a victim), the killer is pardoned.
“The execution was carried out immediately after the Asr (afternoon) prayers at 4.13pm and Adel’s father showed no expression afterwards. However, Turki’s father cried profusely over his son. Adel’s family left the square under a heavy guard,” Al Maslookhi said.
