Tribal chiefs in the region of Khurmah, near Taif, will hold a reconciliation meeting on Thursday to seek pardon for Awad Al-Harbi. He has been on death row at Taif general prison for over 18 years for murder.
The prisoner told Al-Sharq newspaper that the elderly people of his tribe and other tribes sympathizing with him would ask the family of the man he had killed more than 18 years ago, to spare his life.
Al-Harbi was sentenced to beheading but the execution had been withheld until the youngest son of the victim reached maturity at 18 years. The son was only a few months old when Al-Harbi murdered his father.
The mother, wife and the son of Faraj, the man he had killed, would forgive Al-Harbi, thus sparing his neck from being chopped by the sword.
Al-Harbi married the daughter of another convict on death row about three years ago. The couple has a two-year-old daughter he named Amal (Hope). The wedding ceremony took place at Taif prison. His father-in-law was beheaded two years ago.
“I hope the family of the man I killed will forgive me so that my wife won’t lose her father and husband within a span of two years,” he said.
Al-Harbi did not say why and how he killed Faraj but said they were close friends and neighbors since 1980. He said they also worked together in the same government department.
Man on death row waits 18 years for pardon
