The ratification comes after a court in Madinah found Egyptians Muhammad Al-Junaidi and his sister, Jamalat, guilty of kidnapping and sexually exploiting the young girl, called Raziah, in November last year.
Al-Junaidi’s first wife, Fatima Abdul Hafiz (Egyptian national) was sentenced to 10 years in jail, while his two other wives — Egyptian Merfat Al-Imam and Nigerian Zainab Musa — were sentenced to 12 months in jail and 500 lashes. According to the Kingdom’s judiciary, death sentences need to be endorsed by the Supreme Judicial Council before they can be carried out.
Madinah police arrested Al-Junaidi and the four women in January 2009. The case caused public outcry, with many people calling for the accused to be handed the death sentence.
Jamalat's former husband, Ibrahim Al-Damrani, who came to Saudi Arabia to claim his two daughters, said his ex-wife deserved to die for the crime.
Raziah was abducted after her mother, who sells used clothes, said an Egyptian woman customer approached her and asked that her daughter to go with her to collect money for clothes she bought because she had forgotten to bring cash. Jamalat was taken to Al-Junaidi’s house where she was kept prisoner for four years. On her release, Raziah said Al-Junaidi wanted to marry her and smuggle her to Egypt. “They changed my name to Duaa and told me that Al-Junaidi would marry me,” Raziah told Arab News after police reunited her with her parents.
At the time, Raziah spoke only Arabic with an Egyptian accent and was unable to speak her native Afghan language. She also spoke of how Al-Junaidi’s wives would physically abuse her and prevent her from leaving her room. The girl claims the women only allowed her to bathe once a week and that the use of soap was forbidden. She also claimed that Al-Junaidi attempted to sexually assault her, but was stopped by the other women.
It was the discovery of the remains of Al-Junaidi’s two boys (aged around 3 and 4) left in a bag in front of a mosque that led to an investigation and the discovery of Raziah. Al-Junaidi claimed that his boys were born with a life-threatening condition and had died. Their bodies were then left to dry on the roof of their home. Al-Junaidi told police that he, his wives and sister were living in the Kingdom illegally and did not want to report the deaths fearing they might be arrested. The family then left the remains in front of a mosque, as they were leaving the Kingdom and hoped the bodies would be given proper burials.
