JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — The relatives of the murdered Pakistani taxi driver, Malik Muhammad Akram Tahir, have agreed to accept blood money and allow the accomplice in the case to go free.

Saved from execution when his sister agreed to pay SR200,000 blood money was Yemeni Muhammad Nauman Hamood. As an accomplice, he was sentenced to death eight years after the crime.

While the court originally heard the case, the murderer, Sudanese Haroon Bishara, was executed and Hamood spent the next eight years in jail.

Dr. Shoaib Akbar, community welfare attache at the Consulate General of Pakistan, played an important role in having both parties agree to settle the case out of court.

Malik Akram was killed on Oct. 5, 1997, when his two passengers — a Sudanese and a Yemeni — tried to take over his vehicle. He was told to get out of the car and when he refused, he was shot twice in the head.

The case was tried and the principal accused, Haroon Bishara, was sentenced and executed. His accomplice, Hamood, was jailed while his case was being heard and after eight years, the court ordered him to be executed.

Upon learning of the verdict and in order to save her brother’s life, Nijat Hamood, the sister of the convicted man, contacted the Pakistani Consulate and offered to pay blood money to the murdered man’s heirs.

The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) contacted the victim’s family in Pakistan who authorized Muhammad Anwar, the victim’s brother, to act on their behalf. He was in Pakistan at the time and when he returned to the Kingdom, he contacted Dr. Shoaib. Dr. Shoaib called Hamood’s sister and persuaded both parties to come to terms and Anwar agreed to accept SR200,000 as blood money.