“The police began chasing me after I ran an amber light; this made me panic. I then hit a car which resulted in the death of a young man,” the man told a court.

The Jeddah General Court is to re-examine the case next month after the Appellate Court in Makkah ordered a review, a local newspaper reported. The youth ran an amber signal on Jeddah’s Palestine Road last December. He then hit another car resulting in the death of a young man. Damage to his car was estimated at around SR70,000.

The Jeddah General Court has so far issued two separate verdicts on the case. In the first verdict, the court turned down a request from the victim’s father asking for the death penalty and instead awarded the youth 80 lashes and an obligation to pay blood money to the dead man’s family. In the second verdict, the court sentenced the youth to death. The Appellate Court has, however, returned the case to the General Court and recommended a lighter punishment.

Since the victim’s relatives are insisting on the death penalty, the Reconciliation Committee at the Appellate Court has tried to reach an agreement between the two sides. However, the victim’s father has refused to accept double blood money and has insisted on the death penalty.

The young man who caused the accident has alleged that the traffic patrol unit was fully responsible for the accident. “The patrol unit saw me running an amber signal on Palestine Road. They then chased me. The siren and lights put me in a state of panic, and this forced me to speed. I was also under the influence of alcohol. In that situation, I lost control and could not avoid hitting the young man’s car,” he said in his testimony.

The victim’s father, however, highlighted that the Preliminary Court in Jeddah came to a conclusion that the accused was 100 percent responsible for the accident and should be given the death penalty.