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International royals

Saudi Prince executed for murder

Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, a member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, has been executed for his role in a murder. Though the exact means of execution has not been revealed, most convicted people in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

He was put to death in the capital of Riyadh for the killing of Adel al-Mahemid, another Saudi and a friend of the Prince, during a brawl. He had been sentenced to death for the killing of his friend in November 2014, after he pleaded guilty at the trial. The incident occurred in December 2012 following a dispute at a camp on the edge of Riyadh and another person was also injured.

When Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir realised his friend had been the victim, he informed the police. Arab News quoted the victim’s uncle Abdul Rahman al-Falaj, as saying that the sentence reflected the Kingdom’s “fair justice system”. Under Saudi Arabia’s strict legal code murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death. According to Amnesty International there were over 158 death sentences carried out in Saudi Arabia in 2015.

The last time a prominent member of the Saudi Arabian royal family was executed was in 1975. Faisal bin Musaid al-Saud was a nephew of King Al Faisal, who he assassinated. In 1977 Princess Mishael, a granddaughter of a brother of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, was executed after she married a man not selected by the family. They were accused of adultery and Princess Mishael was shot as her husband, Khalid Mahallal, was forced to watch. He was then beheaded.

The Royal Family of Saudi Arabia is said to number in the thousands. Members receive monthly stipends and some hold important government posts.

“The greatest thing is that the citizen sees the law applied to everyone, and that there are not big people and other small people,” Abdul-Rahman al-Lahim, a prominent Saudi lawyer, wrote on Twitter.

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