UAE: ARSONIST SAVED FROM EXECUTION AFTER VICTIMS' RELATIVES ACCEPT 'BLOOD MONEY'

April 2, 2015: An Asian man convicted of murdering his aunt and her husband in Abu Dhabi was saved from execution after the victims’ relatives accepted diya (blood money) and pardoned him, a newspaper reported.
The defendant was sentenced to death by a court of first instance after he was found guilty of locking his aunt and her husband in their room in the capital and setting the house on fire.
An appeals court upheld the capital punishment, prompting the defendant to appeal with the court of cassation, which also sentenced him to death on charges of premeditated murder.
After waiting nearly four years in jail for the sentenced to be executed, a court with a new panel of judges dropped the verdict after receiving a letter from the victims’ relatives pardoning the defendant.
Court records showed the unnamed defendant decided to get rid of the couple after they rebuked him for a sharp decline in the revenue of a workshop they own in the capital just after they returned from a long holiday in their home country. (Source: Agence France-Presse, 02/04/2015)