Family pardon saves killer from death

The UAE’s top court annulled a death sentence against a man convicted of murdering another in Sharjah after he was pardoned by the victim’s family in return for diya (blood money). 

The man, identified only as a foreigner, was convicted of using a rope to strangle his victim before dumping the body in a deserted place and setting it on fire. 

A court in Sharjah had earlier sentenced the man to death, prompting him to appeal the verdict. The appeals court upheld that sentence before the relatives of the unidentified victim accepted diya and pardoned the killer. 

According to the Sharjah-based Alkhaleej Arabic language daily, the man, a Moslem, was drunk when he committed the murder and that he had entered the UAE on an expired passport and visa.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.