1 million riyals saves Egyptian from death in Saudi Arabia

One million riyals ($330,000) has been collected to pay diya (compensation) for an Egyptian citizen who spent 11 years in Saudi prison after killing his brother-in-law.

The money was collected from Al-Kharj city, east of Saudi capital Riyadh, and paid to save Nadi Saleh Al-Masri, who comes from the Egyptian city of Al-Fayoum, the New Khaliji website reported yesterday.

Deputy Head of the General Sports Syndicate, Rashid Abu-Sahoul, said that the money was paid to the family of the victim, who in return pardoned the killer. The families of the killer and the victim negotiated during the 11 years the killer spent in prison in order for him to be pardoned from execution.

Sheikh Fahd Al-Dosari contacted Saudi and Egyptian businessmen and asked them to donate to pay the diya.

In Islamic law diya is financial compensation paid to the victim or heirs of a victim in the cases of murder, bodily harm or property damage. It is an alternative punishment to qisas, which is retaliation in kind e.g. “an eye for an eye” or retributive justice.

Paying diya is widespread in Gulf states, with the highest ever diya paid several weeks ago in Kuwait; $33 million to release the killer of a female Kuwaiti journalist after spending 18 years in prison.

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