Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) executed a citizen who was convicted of burning his friend alive, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday.
The execution of Barakat bin Jibreel Al-Kinani was carried out in the Makkah region on Thursday, the Saudi Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
In December 2022, Al-Kinani killed his 40-year-old friend named Bandar bin Taha Al-Qarhadi. The latter worked as a flight attendant at Saudi Arabian Airlines.
As per media reports, Al-Qarhadi stopped his car on the side of the road in an attempt to settle a long-standing dispute with Al-Kinani. They had a heated argument following which Al-Kinani handcuffed Al-Qarhadi to the steering wheel of his car and then proceeded to burn him alive.
The crime shook the streets of Saudi Arabia after a video of the killing went viral on social media platforms.
Viral video shows, Al-Qarhadi screaming “What did I do?” before dying of serious burns.
Al-Kinani was arrested soon after. Investigations charged him with murder, arson and drug abuse. He was also accused of burning four cars parked in the area.
He has been sent to the competent court for trial.
The ministry said that the court has shown that the accused failed to help the victim when he called for help, a fact that clearly shows his deep-rooted criminal mentality.
The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court upheld the court’s death sentence. In the end, a royal order was issued to carry out the sentence.
Last year, a maximum number of executions were carried out in Saudi Arabia. As many as 196 people were executed, the largest carried out by the Kingdom in the last three decades.
The annual rate of executions in the Kingdom has almost doubled since King Salman and Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2015.
