Posted on 12/07/2005 9:53:30 AM PST by indcons
A pardon from the king of Saudi Arabia is the only hope for the jailed Indian whose one eye may be gouged out for partially blinding a man in a brawl in 2003.
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the case of 34-year-old Abdul Lateef Naushad with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day function.
Naushad, from Kerala, had got into a tiff with a Saudi national, who lost sight in one eye a few weeks later. According to the Saudi Arabian law, one of Naushad's eyes would be gouged out for "justice".
"I have already written to the prime minister and when he returns from Russia, I would speak to him personally to take up the case with the Saudi King," Chandy told reporters here Wednesday.
The chief minister said what happened was not intentional and expected that the king would pardon Naushad.
"Even though normally countries do not interfere with judgments in other countries, this is certainly a special case and therefore I am hopeful," Chandy said.
Naushad's wife Sulekha, 30, who is bringing up a five-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter in most difficult circumstances with her husband in jail for over two years, has threatened to commit suicide with the children if her husband looses his eye.
Sulekha also looks after the parents of Naushad, the family's sole breadwinner.
After Naushad was jailed in Dammam in April 2003, the family has been surviving on the money sent by Naushad's friends.
A similar punishment was handed out to an Egyptian in Saudi Arabia who threw acid into the eyes of a Saudi national.
Hanifa, a former colleague of Naushad, has said a favourable settlement appeared remote as the Saudi man was adamant. He has turned down offers from Naushad's sponsor and lawyers for a compensation instead for an eye-for-an-eye.
The Dammam court has referred Naushad's case to the Supreme Court of the country.
Talk about "Eye for an Eye".
Sorry had to do it.
I'm going to guess they won't.
The guy who lost his eye is a real prince of a guy isnt he?
If he persists in this I hope he loses the other one.
Looks like this poor fellow is going to be blinded after all. Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Barbarism. I'm shocked(not really) that this is going on.
"Naushad's wife Sulekha.....has threatened to commit suicide with the children if her husband loses his eye."
What happens when Naushad comes home with one eye and finds his wife and kids dead? Hmmm?
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