RAFJA/MADINAH: ARAB NEWS
Sunday 5 August 2012

A Saudi philanthropist has donated SR 17 million to save a Saudi man from execution.

The unidentified donor contributed to a campaign to pay off the diya (blood money) to help save Sameh Al-Rowaily, who was sentenced to death for killing a Yemeni national.

A campaign to collect SR 22 million gained steam in the holy month and organizers are short of only SR 900,000.
His execution will take place unless the blood money is paid in full within a few days.

Ayed Al-Rowaily, father of Sameh, thanked all those who contributed to the campaign.

A campaign using social networking sites also contributed substantially in raising the amount, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported.

Ayed urged philanthropists to raise the remaining SR 900,000 to facilitate his 19-year-old son’s release.
He hoped they would collect the full amount before the Aug. 16 deadline.

Relatives of the Yemeni victim earlier insisted on a diya value of SR 28 million. But after intense negotiations involving tribal chiefs in the region, they agreed to reduce the blood money to SR 22 million to be paid within nine months.

Ayed’s family could collect only SR 3 million through the sale of their family house.
The campaign to collect the blood money was launched following a passionate appeal made by Sameh’s mother through the newspaper.

Sameh has been in Sakaka prison for three years after killing the 25-year-old Yemeni national in a dispute. Sameh’s mother said in her appeal that her son had committed the murder in a fit of anger and that it was not a deliberate act.
In response to her fervent call, many people in Al-Jouf province came forward to donate money in the holy month.
In a related development, the mother of Khaled Al-Harbi, another Saudi young man on death row, expressed her deep gratitude to all those who donated generously to save him from beheading.

Members of her tribe and relatives were able to collect the SR 30 million to pay the blood money.

Khaled is her eldest son who became head of the family after her husband’s death. She specially thanked Salah Al-Harbi, a prominent figure in her tribe, for donating SR 5 million after SR 25 million was collected.