SAUDI ARABIA: PARDON BY VICTIM'S DAD SAVES KILLER

A Saudi man on the death row for killing his relative was saved after the victim's father pardoned him just days before his execution.
Issa bin Abdullah Al Qathami was to be beheaded next week after he was convicted of killing his relative Mutair bin Matar Al Qathami during a fight in their neighborhood in the western Saudi town of Taif five years ago.
The victim's father had repeatedly rebuffed mediation by relatives and friends and insisted on the execution of the killer in line with Islamic law.
"A few days after Issa was to be executed, Mutair's father went to the court and announced he had pardoned his son's killer," Sabq daily said.
Under Islamic law, which is strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia, a convicted killer can avoid execution and walk free if pardoned by the victim's family in exchange for diya (blood money), which is set in the Kingdom at SR300,000.