RIYADH: 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 first rights watchdog sanctioned by the government in March 2004.

Ninety-one people — including some from Asian countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka — have been executed in the ultra-conservative oil-rich kingdom so far this year, more than double the 37 beheaded in all of 2006.

The figure is the highest since 2000 when at least 113 were executed.

Most of those beheaded this year were convicted of either murder or drug smuggling, but some had been found guilty of rape or armed robbery.

“Social and economic changes are bringing with them new kinds of crimes, like armed robbery by organised gangs, more cases of manslaughter and crimes which are of such concern to the public that they could lead to execution, like rape,” Kahtani told the news agency.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said that in cases of premeditated murder, the legal process leading up to execution can often take a long time.

“Some cases drag on for years while efforts are made to convince a victim’s family to waive the punishment, especially when there are minors among the victim’s children,” who must have their say once they become adults, he explained.

Turki said the government was also standing firm to prevent the spread of drugs, “which can kill those who become addicts.

“The government does not want the kingdom to become a transit point for international traffickers through the exploitation” of the Makkah pilgrimages, when millions of people from all over the world flock to the kingdom.

The only crime punishable by death for which there have been no convictions for many years is apostasy, said lawyer and rights activist Abdurrahman al-Lahem.

Like premeditated murder, capital punishment is mandatory for apostasy under the strict version of sharia.

Manslaughter, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery can be punishable by death, depending on the scope of the crime. But the death penalty can be commuted to a prison term and the king can grant amnesty or order a review of the case.

Local newspapers occasionally carry stories of people on death row for murder who are pardoned by the family of the slain victim.

A Saudi woman walked free on May 26 after spending eight years behind bars for killing a male compatriot, a case which prompted the intervention of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

Such pardons are accompanied by the payment of diyya, or blood money, to the victim’s family. They can also be the result of “reconciliation” involving greater compensation than stipulated by law, Kahtani said.

But in one case the family of a murder victim turned down an offer of 50 million riyals or more than $13,00000, according to Turki al-Sudairy, chairman of the governmental Human Rights Commission set up in September 2005. Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights is frequently the butt of criticism by Western rights groups.

But Sudairy said that where murder is concerned, Westerners would do well to consider the tribal structure of the Arabian peninsula powerhouse before passing judgement.

“If the government does not implement the punishment, the victim’s family will take revenge. Old traditions die hard. You can build skyscrapers and introduce the latest technologies, but people don’t change easily,” he told the news agency.

Kahtani said his group defends human rights within the context of sharia, in which capital punishment for premeditated murder is untouchable.

“If the king changes it, there will be demonstrations,” he said.

Both he and Sudairy said ruling family members go to great lengths to secure family pardons, and this is where rights groups are helping too.

Kahtani said the practice of carrying out executions in public is meant to deter potential offenders. But Lahem called for alternatives to the death penalty.

“Imprisonment can serve the purpose of deterrence. The right to live is a basic human right,” he said.

Lahem said cases in which the public prosecution — which is affiliated to the interior ministry — demands the death penalty go through three courts before the sentence is ratified by the king.

However, Amnesty International, in its 2007 report, said “many defendants complained that they were not represented by lawyers and were not informed of the progress of their trial”.—AFP