Saudi Reconciliation Committee Works to Save Death Row Inmates |TODAY|

Badea Abu Al-Naja writes in Arab News:

“I remember a case in which Prince Abdul Majeed got involved in saving a man from execution. It was the case of an Egyptian man who worked at a village near Taif. The Egyptian was in jail and facing execution after killing an Egyptian friend following a fight over some money. The Egyptian buried his friend’s body and tried to destroy evidence of the murder,” he said. The Egyptian was arrested and having confessed to the crime spent 12 years on death row. “He felt guilty at every moment that passed while he was in prison. When the execution date neared, he sent a letter asking for clemency from Prince Abdul Majeed,” said Al-Zahrani.

“The prince ordered us to help the man and review his case. After reading up on the case I traveled to Egypt and met with the victim’s family. I learned that the family of the murderer had tried many times to get a pardon for their son but the victim’s family had refused,” said Al-Zahrani, who added that the family was living in dire poverty.

“When they learned that I was a representative of Prince Abdul Majeed and that he had invited them to visit Makkah and Madinah for Umrah and Haj at his expense they became very happy,” he said. The visit was helpful and it resulted in the family forgiving the murderer, who was released and returned to Egypt to start afresh.

Read it all.