MADINAH, 21 August 2006 — A court in Madinah has ordered the execution of five teenagers involved in the gang-rape and murder of a 10-year-old boy in 2004.
The incident had sent shock waves among the peaceful residents of the holy city at the time of the crime. What was even more shocking was that the body of the child, who was later identified as Abdul Rahim Ghulam, was found headless in the Erwa Valley.
The decision to execute those responsible comes two years and three months after the grisly crime.
In 2004, Madinah police had launched a massive investigation and sent search teams to the valley to search for the missing head and arrested a number of individuals including the five teenagers who lived in the same neighborhood as the murdered boy.
The five teenagers soon confessed to the crime. The families of two of the accused have filed an appeal against the decision saying that their sons did not participate in the rape and murder and were seated inside the car when the crime took place.
When questioned by the police as to why the youngsters had beheaded the child, they explained that one of them had advised decapitation saying the murdered boy’s eye would have had the imprint of the faces of the murderers.
The head of the boy was disposed of in a different place than the body and was never located. Police believe the Erwa Valley was flooded at the time of the murder and that it may have been washed away.
