SAUDI ARABIA: LAST-MINUTE PARDON SAVES PAKISTANI TEEN FROM EXECUTION

an 18 year old Pakistani student convicted of killing a Burmese friend and sentenced to death three years ago was spared the death penalty hours before his execution, which had been scheduled to take place today. The case was dropped following the intervention of Makkah Gov. Prince Abdul Majeed, also president of the Reconciliation Committee, who had been trying to convince the victim’s family to forego their demands for an execution and pardon the young man. The family of the victim forgave the accused man while he was already on the execution ground, on the condition that the murderer’s family build a mosque in Makkah bearing the victim’s name.