MAKKAH: The representatives of a Burmese national here expressed deep gratitude and shouted thanks to the Almighty Allah after he was spared from being beheaded. This was shortly after the members of the Reconciliation Committee in Makkah region's governorate reached an agreement with the wife of the Saudi victim to pardon him. The venue was the sitting room of a Saudi national in Makkah's Al-Khaldia District. There were hectic scenes at the meeting, with a direct telephone call made to the victim's wife, who had adamantly rejected offering a pardon. However, she later changed her mind and said: “I pardon for the sake of Allah and want no reward but from Him.” The session was led by Brig. Gen. Muhammad Bin Hashloul, Chairman of the Pardon Department of the Reconciliation Committee, and included Dr. Ali Bin Ahmad Al-Haffashi, Assistant Executive Chairman of the committee; Dr. Ahmad Bin Mush'il Al-Ghamdi and Dr. Hassan Al-Ossaimi. The delegation was received by the father and brother of the victim. The wife of the victim said she had pardoned the perpetrator because she and her orphaned children needed the money to buy a house in Makkah. The wife agreed to reduce the blood money to SR400,000 provided the killer is banished from the district where the family lives. The father of the victim then said, “We do not want to keep the killer and his family from the holy city, but we want to prevent any confrontation between the sons of the family and the perpetrator.” The representatives of the Reconciliation Committee accepted the family's condition and an official document confirming the case was dropped. It was signed by the father and brother of the victim. The case involves a dispute in Al-Khaldia District, which saw Hussein Jona, 25, stab Abdul Raheem Ahmad Qader, 28, to death with a knife. Qader died before reaching Al-Noor Specialist Hospital.
