Saudi Arabia: Five convicts to appeal death penalty verdict

QATIF: The relatives of five people who have been sentenced to death for murdering a Saudi youth in Qatif are to appeal the verdict.

The men, who strangled the youth after luring him to a rural location pretending he would meet a young woman there, have 30 days to appeal the verdict, Al-Yaum newspaper reported. A relative of one of the convicts said the murder was unintentional and that only one of the five men was responsible.

“They did not plan to kill him but only rob him. They had been in contact with the victim via mobile phone for around a month and had pretended they were women,” he said.

Having arrived at the location, the young man was met by two men dressed as women. They then drove to a remote location.

“One of the attackers was sitting on the front seat near the driver while the second was sitting on the back seat behind him.

“The two men then attempted to strangle him. When they saw him faint, they took him to the emergency section of a nearby hospital. The hospital, however, refused to treat him, which then led them to go and tell the police,” he said, adding that by that time the youth had died. Ahmad Al-Sudairy, the lawyer representing the five men, expressed surprise at the verdict.

“We’ve never heard of such a verdict," he said, adding that he hopes the appeal court will overturn the verdict.

“If we go over the case, then we can see that the murder was committed by one of five men and that they did not plan to kill him but only rob him,” he said.

He further wondered how all of the five could have strangled the man to death, adding that the others should receive some sort of Ta'azir punishment.

Source: Arab News, May 29, 2010

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