Two children of a man on death row have appealed to Custodian to the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to pardon their father for his crime.
“It is our wish to be with our father and to have him with us at the park and on our birthdays and to care for us when we are sick,” Joury, 3, and Emad, 2, said in their recent appeal to the king.
The children also have sent their appeals to Amnesty International.
Jameel Al-Aseeri, who was convicted of bank robbery, has been in Jeddah’s Braiman prison for the past 14 years. As he was the leader and mastermind of the crime gang involving three accomplices, Al-Aseeri was sentenced to death while the others were handed 25 years and 8,000 lashes each.
The gang was accused of robbing two banks, and keeping a businessman hostage in return for a SR 1 million ransom and stealing a car.
Al-Aseeri appealed against the verdict pointing out that he did not commit murder. “Who has more right to life? I, who did not kill anyone, or a terrorist who kills and plans terror acts?” Al-Aseeri asked while talking to Arab News, referring to instances of granting pardon to a number of terrorists in the past and asserting his claim for pardon. 
Al-Aseeri married four years ago and had two children Joury and Emad. His wife is expecting a third. Her dowry was five copies of the Holy Qur’an and a stipulation by her father that the husband should never miss compulsory prayers.
His wife, whom the Arab News visited at her modest house, said she has been in a state of severe mental agony as the older child often asked her when their father will come home. She said children were reluctant to leave their father when they visited him in jail. She added that her husband, who is now ill, did not kill anyone but was punished for violating a public right.
According to the crime records at the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution, Al-Aseeri was the mastermind of the bank robberies and was involved in five other crimes including burglary, impersonation and carrying unlicensed weapons, while his accomplices did not have any previous crime records. The judges were unanimous in handing the death sentence on the taazeer (discretionary power of a Shariah court judge).
According to social scientist Muhammad Al-Shahrani, Al-Aseeri has an excellent character and regularly performs compulsory prayers and helps fellow prisoners.