Saudi Arabia arrests man who filmed execution pardon

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested a state employee accused of filming a public execution that was stayed at the last minute, reportedly after a pardon from the victim’s family.

The man, who has not been publicly named, has been referred to the public prosecutor in the capital Riyadh for questioning.

The footage appears to have been shot in secret through a window overlooking the public square where the execution was due to be carried out.

The police spokesman, General Fawaz bin Jamal al-Mayman, said the arrested man had “exploited his place of work” to shoot the clip.

Mayman warned that filming such incidents and broadcasting the footage was a “clear violation of the legal regime”, saying it could serious consequences.  

Translation: A murderer is pardoned in the execution square...and the murderer prostrates himself to God after being saved at the last minute

The footage in question, which was first published on Sunday, appears to show a man dressed in black kneeling on the ground in the middle of a public square, as a man in a white robe kneels over him.

Later in the clip, the man dressed in black is seen prostrate on the ground, and surrounded by a group of men.

At the end of the footage, the mat on which the man had been kneeling on before his presumed execution is rolled up, and he climbs into a van.

Local media reported that the man had been sentenced to death for murder, but was pardoned at the last minute by relatives of his victim.

However, police spokesman Mayman denied that the murdered had been pardoned, saying instead that the execution had simply been postponed.

Last year authorities arrested a man for publishing rare footage of officials publicly executing Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, a Nepalese woman accused of killing and torturing her employer’s daughter.

It is not known what charges he faced, or whether he was found guilty.

Under Saudi law, murder is punishable by death according to the law of retribution – however, if relatives of the victim choose to accept blood money instead, the murdered is pardoned.

Public executions for murder and other capital offences typically take place at around 9pm, with the convicted person made to kneel before the executioner in a public square before being decapitated with a sword.

After the person is pronounced dead, sometimes after several sword blows, a loudspeaker announces the crimes of which the person was convicted.

Over 130 people have been executed so far this year in Saudi Arabia, including a mass execution of 47 people in January.

Four were shot by firing suqd, and the 43 others beheaded.

Among those killed was Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the most high-profile Shia cleric in the kingdom.

His execution caused diplomatic uproar, with mobs storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.