Facebook viral appeals fail to save Saudi from execution

Saudi Arabia on Monday executed a local man who was convicted of murdering another Saudi during a fight a few years despite a flood of online appeals for the victim’s relatives to pardon him, newspapers reported.

The Interior Ministry, in a statement carried by the local press, said it had executed Dhafir bin Hadi Al Baltaheen by a firing squad for killing Ayed bin Mohammed Al Qashanin during a scuffle in the southern province of Najran.

Social networks in the Middle East’s most conservative Muslim nation went viral on Sunday with public appeals for the victim’s relatives to accept diya (blood money) and pardon the killer in line with Islamic law.

The Ministry said the defendant had confessed to killing Qashanin by a machine gun during the fight and that the death sentence was approved by the supreme court.

Newspapers did not specify the age of the killer and the victim but Sabq daily had earlier indicated Baltaheen would be executed after the victim’s family rejected mediation bids by tribal chiefs over the past years to pardon the defendant.

Under Islamic law, which is enforced to the letter in Saudi Arabia, a killer can be saved from execution and set free if pardoned by the victim’s relatives for diya.

Earlier report:

Saudi social network users are racing against time to push to save a local man who will be executed today after he was convicted of killing another Saudi a few years ago.

Facebook and other networks were flooded with appeals on Sunday for the victim’s relatives to accept diya (blood money) and pardon Dhafir Aba Al Taheen, who killed a young Saudi man during a fight in the southern Saudi province of Najran six years ago.

“Facebook, What’s App and other networks went viral yesterday and more today. The people of Najran and other areas are appealing for the victim’s relatives to pardon Taheen so they will be rewarded by God the Almighty,” Sabq daily said.

Under Islamic law, which is strictly enforced in conservative Saudi Arabia, a convicted killer can be saved from the gallows if pardoned by the victim’s family in return for blood money.

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