SAUDI ARABIA: DEATH ROW PRISONERS PARDONED

the Reconciliation Committee in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, secured pardons for two death row inmates some 48 hours before their scheduled execution. Awad and Amer were sentenced to death for murder. Mecca Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal's efforts paid off when the victims' families announced the decision. They did not seek any financial compensation and said they sought only God's reward. The executive president of the Reconciliation Committee, Naser Al-Zahrani, expressed his satisfaction with the pardons.