Member of Saudi royal family is executed for first time since 1975

by WorldTribune Staff, October 20, 2016

A member of the Saudi royal family who was convicted of murder has been executed.

Prince Turki bin Saud bin Turki bin Saud Al-Kabeer was executed on Oct. 18, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Saudi's Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Prince Turki bin Saud bin Turki bin Saud Al-Kabeer.
Saudi’s Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Prince Turki bin Saud bin Turki bin Saud Al-Kabeer.

The last time a member of the Saudi royal family was put to death was in 1975 when Prince Faisal bin Musaid was beheaded for assassinating King Faisal.

Prince Kabeer was convicted in the shooting death of a man during a “group quarrel,” the Interior Ministry said.

Neither the Saudi state news agency nor the Interior Ministry would release personal details about Kabeer. Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, a member of the royal family, told The New York Times that Kabeer was a member of one of the most important branches of the royal family, but was not in the line of descendants of King Abdulaziz, the leader who founded the country in 1932.

The Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper based in Jeddah, said the victim’s family had refused offers of “blood money” and demanded justice be carried out.

The statement did not include details on the method of execution. In other cases in Saudi Arabia the death sentence has been carried out by beheading.

The guilty verdict against the prince was supported by an appeals court and later sanctioned by the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia. A royal order was then issued to execute the courts’ ruling, the Saudi state press agency reported.

“The government … is keen to keep order, stabilize security and bring about justice through implementing the rules prescribed by Allah … on whoever violates the sanctity of civilians,” the Interior Ministry said.

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