On October 2, Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Haji, a 70-year-old...

On October 2, Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Haji, a 70-year-old Saudi, was being led to his place of execution in Abha's Al-Najar Square when the victim's 2 sons rushed out of the crowd to talk to him. They asked Al-Haji if the murder, 6 years earlier, had been intentional. The condemned man "swore in the name of God that he was only trying to resolve a dispute between their father and a third party" and that "it hadn't been intentional." The brothers, Mufreh and Abdullah ibn Yahia Al-Mahaj, then pardoned him on the spot and renounced their right to diya, or blood money. The crowd, which had gathered to see Al-Haji executed, is said to have reacted with cries of "God is great," and reports said that some people "fainted with emotion" and "praised the brothers for their clemency."