Saudi Arabia: Endless debate over death penalty

Public execution
in Saudi Arabia

Despite western criticism, most urban dwellers in Saudi Arabia do not see this act of retribution as inhumane if the crime is ghastly in nature.

In Saudi Arabia as elsewhere, capital punishment is still being meted out to those proven guilty of a variety of crimes.

Serious crime

In that the crimes for capital punishment by the state are clearly defined — terrorism, drug-trafficking, kidnapping, armed robbery and rape — there exist crimes against people that can place the aggressor under the sword of the state or the mercy of the victim's family. The state often has no say in such matters.

Take the case of a homicide. If the perpetrator is proven guilty, the state demands his incarceration for a minimal time, while he awaits his fate based on the demands of the victim's relatives. In the case of a full pardon by the victim's family, he is let off scot-free. This is often the case when there is no indication or cause of pre-meditation for the crime.

Pardon can come in the form of mercy from the victim's relatives, pressure from the extended family or the community, or the payment of ‘diya' or ‘blood money', an amount that can range from hundreds of thousands of riyals to several million.

However, if the victim's family decides that the aggressor committed an unpardonable crime, no law in the land can intervene if the relatives remain unmoved in their wish to see the guilty one executed. And in that case, the sword is used to deliver justice.

Most urban dwellers that I have encountered do not perceive this act of retribution as inhumane if the crime in itself is ghastly in nature. The kidnapping and molestation of a child, or the rape and murder of a defenceless woman, or a greed-motivated pre-meditated murder will not elicit any form of sympathy for the assailant.

Deterrent

Although they may quote verses from the Quran in the form that forgiveness is divine, few would march in defence of and against the execution of a proven criminal for gruesome deeds.

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Source: gulfnews, Op-ed by Tariq A. Al Maeena, a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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