Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — “I am innocent, I am innocent, I will hold you responsible,” were the last words uttered by Mazin before he was executed in Iraq. Mazin Masawee, in his red prison uniform, shouted the last words to his executioner as he was taken to the gallows blindfolded and with hands and legs tied. He was accused of terrorist activities in Iraq and executed at 4:30 A.M. last Monday. Mazin's lawyer Qahtan Homaid said that the execution order came as a surprise. He said he had received an approval to delay the execution and they notified the prisoner. His executioners were also notified about the delay and to hold off the execution. “Mazin was arrested in 2010 and accused of joining a terrorist cell that attacked a police station in Baghdad. He was given a quick trial without a lawyer to defend him,” said the lawyer. “The prison authorities executed Mazin without allowing him to write his last will or hand over his personal belongings. His lawyers were not notified. This is against all principles of justice.”
Homaid said he had met with Mazin four days before Eid. He remembered Mazin saying that he told the judge before he was sentenced: “If you sentenced me to death and you know that I am innocent, then I will not forgive you for it and I will hold you accountable in front of Allah.” Mazin's father Muhammad Masawee was devastated by the news of his son's execution. He demanded to get back his son's body for burial in his homeland. Masawee said his son did not have any inclination for the extremist ideology. He was a third-year student at the School of Economics and Management at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. He was influenced with what was happening in Iraq and showed interest in developments there. Masawee said in an earlier interview, “Toward the end of 2005, exactly after Eid Al-Fitr holidays, Mazin told me that he wanted to go to Madinah and spend some time there. Some 20 days later, one of Mazin's friends called the family and told me that Mazin traveled to Dammam for a job interview. When I asked the caller why Mazin didn't call us, he replied that he was asked by Mazin to communicate this news to them.” A month later, Masawee received a call from Iraq that Mazin had joined a jihadi group there. He immediately informed the Ministry of Interior.
