An anonymous Saudi prince faces beheading after he killed a local man, the Gulf state’s crown prince declared on Sunday as reported by local media.
“Sharia [Islamic law] must be enforced on all without any
exception because there is no differentiation between the strong
and the weak in Islam,” Deputy Premier and Defense Minister
of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, said
as he demanded the anonymous prince’s execution.
He underscored the importance of the law in a letter labeled
‘very urgent’ - a copy of which was publicly published in the
English-language, Arab News.
The name of the prince has not been disclosed.
He recalled that, according to Islamic law, a convicted person
may avoid the penalty if the relatives of his victims agreed to
accept the ‘diya’ - a ransom paid for the death of their
relative.
“No one has the right to intervene in the judiciary
system…this is the regulation in our country…in case the
relatives of the victim refuse mediation and insist on the
enforcement of Sharia, you are asked to implement the sentence
against the killer,” he added, as quoted by the Arabic
language daily Ajel. “Justice must be served. ”
The victim’s father previously stated that he was not ready to
pardon his son’s murder and the amount of blood money offered was
not enough to recompense the loss of a son.
There was no name provided for the victim of the murder or his
father – while both were mentioned in the prince’s letter, they
had apparently been censored by the newspaper.
Saudi Arabia has come under a great deal of criticism for its
strict system of Sharia law, which has resulted in a high number
of executions. Some 47 people were executed in the Gulf State
from the beginning of 2013 to May, according to Amnesty
International, in comparison to 82 executions in 2011 and around
80 in 2012.
Members of the ruling family are very rarely executed. However,
the nephew of Saudi King Faisal, Faisal bin Musaid al Saud, rose
to prominence in 1975 after he assassinated King Faisal.
A Saudi Prince was also sentenced to life in jail in Britain in
March. Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir is the grandson of Saudi
Arabia's King Abdullah. He was jailed in 2010 for subjecting a
male servant to a ‘sadistic’ campaign of violence and sexual
abuse before murdering him. He was flown back to Saudi Arabia in
March to serve out the remainder of his sentence.