Saudi Arabia triples blood money to SR300,000

Saudi Arabia has decided to triple diya, the money paid by a killer to the victim’s relatives under Islamic law, but kept the sum for female victims at half that for male victims, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom said on Saturday.

The Kingdom’s supreme judicial authority said it raised diya to SR300,000 ($80,000) from SR100,000 ($26,666) in accidental death and SR400,000 ($106,666) in premeditated murder, the papers said.

“The increase in diya is in line with a recent royal decision and it will be soon enforced by all courts in the country……..diya for female victims will remain at half that for male victims,” said Hamad al Razeen, a judge at the general court in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Under Islamic law, a killer can avoid death sentence and walk free if pardoned by the victim’s relatives in return for bloody money.

Razeen said the decision to increase diya was based on the sharp rise in the prices of camels, which were used as blood money in the old Islamic age.

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