Pardons hard to come by as executions mount in Saudi

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

RIYADH (AFP) — Not even the king can save a convict on death row for premeditated murder from the executioner's sword in Saudi Arabia.

The death penalty is here to stay in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where there has been a dramatic spike in the number of executions this year -- whether as a result of rising crime or lower tolerance in a country governed by strict Islamic law.

Instead, turning to a more merciful side of Islamic law, rights activists try to secure a pardon from the victim's family, a drawn-out process that involves all sorts of mediators.

"But we seek to constrain the authority of the judge in cases where the death sentence is left to his discretion," said Mufleh al-Kahtani, vice president of the National Society for Human Rights, the...