According to a report by local Arabic daily Al-Madinah on Wednesday, Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim Al-Anzi was brought Tuesday to the execution square in Madinah in front of the police headquarters.
The executioner was about to cut off his head when Miteb bin Abdul Karim bin Enad Al-Faqeer raised up his hand to say: “I have pardoned the killer for the sake of Allah.”
The square reportedly became festive, with onlookers chanting Allahu Akbar (God is great) in praise of Al-Faqeer’s noble deed.
The newspaper reported the father, who said he was only seeking reward from Allah for this deed, then signed a written pardon prepared by the committee supervising the execution. The signing ceremony was attended by Director of Madinah Police Maj. Gen. Awad bin Saeed Al-Sarhani and representatives from the general court, the Prosecution and Investigation Commission (PIC) and the Directorate of Prisons.
Sources told the newspaper that Al-Faqeer had initially resisted all mediation efforts urging him to pardon Al-Anzi, but he had finally chosen to carry out the pardon by himself.
The murder took place six years ago in the Al-Ola region north of Madinah. A verbal dispute between Al-Anzi and his victim turned rough, ending in the murder. Since then he had been on death row.
Al-Anzi’s brother Abdul Hakim said his family — his other brothers and their 70-year-old mother — would always be indebted to Al-Faqeer.