Jan. 2
JAPAN:
42 given death sentences in 2004
A record 42 defendants were sentenced to death in 2004 by courts
nationwide, while 68 death-row inmates did not appeal their sentences or
lost appeals as of Wednesday, according to a Kyodo News survey based on
court data.
The number of death sentences this year, up by 12 from the year before, is
the highest since 1980 when courts started taking the data.
(source: Kyodo News)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Saudi Family Pardons Killers of Their Son
The family of a Saudi student murdered in the United States by 3
compatriots said Saturday they have pardoned the culprits, enabling 2 of
them who were facing execution in this conservative Gulf state to walk
free.
The family said a Saudi prince had brokered the pardon.
Mishal al-Suwaidi and Tariq al-Dossary confessed to killing Abdulaziz
al-Kohaji in Denver in 2001 while he was an engineering student at the
Community College of Denver. They were arrested, convicted and sentenced
to death in the Saudi Arabia in 2002.
But the 2 were freed Thursday after al-Kohaji's family filed papers with
court officials confirming they wanted the pair spared, a police official
said.
It was unclear what, if any, impact the pardon would have on the third
Saudi convicted in the killing, Naif al-Yousif. He is serving a life term
in prison in the United States without the possibility of parole after a
Colorado court sentenced him last January. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in
Saudi had no immediate comment.
"I gave my pardon for the sake of God (and) we pray to God to give us
peace and patience," said the victim's father, Ibrahim al-Kohaji, who
lives in the Eastern Province city of Dhahran. "We reached the point that
we believed nothing will bring our son back."
Death sentences issued by Saudi courts, which follow strict Islamic law,
can't be appealed and convicted murders facing execution can only be
spared if the family of the victim agrees to forgive and pardon the
culprits.
Al-Kohaji said the prince of Eastern Province, Mohammed bin Fahd,
approached his family to negotiate a pardon. It was unclear if the prince
had paid any money to the victim's relatives to secure their forgiveness
in line with a tribal custom.
Abdulaziz al-Kohaji, the son of a Saudi oilman, and al-Yousif were both
attending the Denver college when friends of the slain engineering student
reported him missing in January 2001 after he did not show up for classes.
His body was found in a landfill in Erie, 15 miles north of Denver, a
month later and police said he had been taped to a chair and strangled
before being thrown into a trash bin. Police said all 3 suspects were
acquaintances of al-Kohaji and prosecutors said the motive was robbery.
Al-Suwaidi and al-Dossary fled the United States and returned to their
homes in the Saudi city of Dammam shortly after the murder. Both confessed
in a court there to killing al-Kohaji and they were sentenced to die. A
Saudi court also sentenced al-Yousif to death in absentia.
The Associated Press attempted to contact al-Suwaidi and al-Dossary but
their relatives did not permit them to comment.
However a woman who identified herself as al-Dossary mother's said in a
telephone interview that the pardon had thrilled her family.
"The pardon lifts from my son and my family a burden of suffering and
pain," she said. "I felt that the (victim's) family was willing to pardon
my son and I will never forget this all my life."
(source: Associated Press)
