Five kids pray for Saudi dad on death row

A Saudi man with five children could be executed shortly after he was convicted of killing two relatives but he still hopes to be saved by mediation for blood money and prayers by his little kids, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Sunday.

Sayer Al Rasheedi was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of murdering his cousin and aunt during a fight in the central town of Buraidah two years ago. His father and mother as well as other relatives were hurt in the scuffle.

During his two-year stay in prison, Al Rasheedi has turned into a Moslem preacher after memorizing the Koran. Prison guards and inmates now call him “the prison preacher” as he preaches twice a week at the prison mosque while he had persuaded nearly 35 non-Moslem prisoners to convert to Islam.

Ajel Arabic language daily said Al Rasheedi could be beheaded in the next few days unless mediation efforts by local dignitaries succeeded in persuading the victims’ relatives to pardon him. It quoted Al Rasheedi he feels sorry for what he had done but added that he committed the crime in self defence.

“I have heard that my relatives have received dignitaries again and they showed flexibility in pardoning me, God’s willing,” he said.

“My children are also praying for me every day so I will be pardoned and reunite with them…I also hope to be back to my parents who suffer every day because of what happened…only God knows that I pray daily for those who I had killed.”

Under Islamic law, which is strictly enforced in conservative Saudi Arabia, a killer could be saved from the gallows and walk free if pardoned by the victim’s family in return for diya (blood money).

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