By Adnan Al-Shabrawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The wife of a Saudi death row prisoner, who has been held behind bars for more than 15 years, has appealed to the supreme authorities for pardoning her husband of 10 years on humanitarian grounds.

Zahour married her husband Jameel, who is 54 years now, in 2007 at the high security Briman Prison in Jeddah while he was serving a life sentence following his conviction in a notorious bank heist in the city.

Jameel and his three accomplices were arrested over two bank robberies in March 2003. The General Court in Jeddah found them guilty of robbing SR180,000 from the branches of Banque Saudi Fransi and Al-Rajhi Bank, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. However, following an appeal the High Court in Jeddah changed the life sentence to the death penalty after years of deliberations.

Meanwhile, Zahour had been seeing her husband in the prison taking advantage of the Shariah provision for privacy for married couples during prison visits. As a result she became pregnant twice and gave birth to a son and daughter, who are now 8 and 6 years old.

Zahour was shocked when she learned that her husband's life sentence was increased to capital punishment following the appeal hearing.

"I have become a widow and a mother of two orphans even though my husband is still alive albeit in prison," said Zahour, who is almost blinded by tears of sorrow and anguish.

She said her dreams of living with her husband upon his release were dashed when the appeals court judge handed down the death sentence.

Zahour is calling on the supreme authorities to commute her husband's death sentence and let him complete his life imprisonment, of which he has already served 16 years.

"My children and I are appealing to the supreme authorities to pardon Jameel so that he can come back to his family," she said.

Jameel, the longest serving prisoner in Briman, may be executed any time, but for intervention by the higher authorities in his case.

Jameel had three children from his first wife, whom he had divorced. The eldest of them was a daughter, who is in her 20s now.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette visited Zahour at her home in Jeddah. She lives in a miserable condition amid poverty and destitution.

She said she lived on assistance from social security, which was far from enough to meet her rising expenses.

She said her husband lived with one kidney after he donated the other to his youngest sister two years before he went to prison.

Jameel is now the head of the barracks No. 12 in Briman Prison. He starts his day by waking up his inmates for the Fajr prayer after which he returns to his routine. He asks his fellow inmates to attend the Qur'an memorization circles and listen to religious lectures.

Two prominent lawyers said since Jameel's capital punishment was based on a discretionary court ruling and did not involve any private rights, he could be pardoned by the ruler.

Lawyer Saad Misfir Al-Maliki said the concept of presidential or royal pardon existed in the criminal justice systems of all countries and governments at all times.

According to Al-Maliki, in an Islamic system the ruler reserves the right to overturn a death sentence and commute it to imprisonment or any other punishment if the sentence was discretionary and the crime involved only public rights. However, the ruler cannot pardon sentences based on Hudud laws (a set of crime and punishments specified in the Qur'an).

Well-known lawyer Majed Garoub agreed. He said the country's ruler reserved the absolute right to pardon anyone convicted of a crime and serving a discretionary sentence passed by a court in the public interest.

The ruler can commute the death sentence in view of the humanitarian and social circumstances of a convicted prisoner, he added.