JEDDAH, 18 November 2005 — Samira Murait, who was convicted of murdering a man while trying to defend herself against an attempted rape, might have a chance for pardon and thus escape execution.

Abdul Aziz ibn Khamis, the legal attorney of Murait told Al-Watan newspaper that the victim’s family, after many interventions, showed signs of agreement to drop the case and spare Murait’s life.

He said they might consider dropping the case but with certain non-financial conditions which they have not yet revealed.

People’s hope for pardon in Murait’s case diminished with the end of Ramadan as they had thought she would be pardoned by the victim’s family during the holy month.

The highly controversial case, which gained the sympathy of millions around the Kingdom, still remains without a clear conclusion.

Murait, who is known as the “Khamis Mushayt Girl,” told Al-Watan that she did not expect this much reaction from the authorities and the public toward her case.

Speaking about the effect of media on her case she said that some of what was published in the newspapers was not true and was full of both fabricated and exaggerated facts which did not help her case.

She noted that the media took advantage of her case to make an unnecessary scandal, leading to further distortion of her image in front of the victim’s family.

Murait is still full of hope and thankful to all those who offered to help both financially and by intervention with the victim’s family.

She said if the intervention fails she is willing to re-open the case hoping that the facts would help her win the case.

Murait received a donation of SR100,000 from the public and she immediately donated it under the victim’s name to the earthquake survivors in Pakistan.

A very successful website was created by a volunteer to gain public support for the young woman. The website (www.freethegirl.com) has received over 600,000 hits so far.

Some of the previous intervention attempts to spare Murait’s life were conducted by Crown Prince Sultan and a human rights group but the victim’s family refused to drop the case.

The “Khamis Mushayt Girl,” has spent the last five years in the women’s jail in Abha. In her five years behind bars, the young mother of three has expressed remorse over her actions and has turned to God, memorizing the entire Qur’an in the process.