JEDDAH, 10 December — A former Saudi Arabian Airlines employee, who has been awaiting beheading after being convicted for murdering his friend two years ago, will be released shortly as his relatives have fulfilled the terms for the pardon stipulated by the victim’s family, Al-Bilad newspaper reported yesterday.
Osama Hussein Muminah, 23, stabbed several times his friend A. Ghamdi, 32, in the course of a dispute over some financial dealings between them. Later, Al-Ghamdi died from his injuries at hospital, and Osama was arrested on murder charges.
Since that time, his family have been trying to get a pardon from Al-Ghamdi’s family, particularly because they were very close friends and the incident occurred in exceptional circumstances and in self-defense. Moreover, Osama is a diabetic and has high blood pressure.
Finally, the victim’s family agreed to sign the papers to pardon Osama if his family paid them SR700,000. As his parents were poor, the sum required to save Osama’s life has been collected from friends and well-wishers.
