MADINAH: The key suspects in the kidnapping of an Afghan girl in Madinah four years ago may face capital punishment as the act has been treated as a major socially corrupting crime deserving execution in accordance with Shariah.
“The case filed against Muhammad Junaidi and his sister Jamalat, prime suspects in the kidnapping and imprisonment of Raziah, has been transferred to the headquarters of the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution in Riyadh in view of the seriousness of the case,” said a reliable source in Madinah legal circles.
“Given the strong evidences gathered by the prosecution and the nature of the crime the final verdict is likely to be execution,” said the source, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Junaidi, an Egyptian, his wife Fatimah and his sister Jamalat were arrested in January in connection with the kidnapping of Raziah who was kept prisoner in their home for four years.
“Abduction and rape are crimes not condoned by the religion because they amount to terrorizing people and disrupting law and order,” said Faihan Al-Mutairi, who teaches law at the Islamic University of Madinah, commenting on the crime.
According to the girl, Jamalat lured her to Junaidi’s house where she was kept prisoner. Raziah said Junaidi wanted to marry her and smuggle her to Egypt. “They changed my name to Duaa and told me that Junaidi would marry me,” Raziah told Arab News after police reunited her with her parents in January.
According to Raziah’s mother, who sold clothes outside the Prophet’s Mosque, Jamalat purportedly took the girl to her hotel room promising to send with her the money for clothes she had bought as she had no cash on her, but Raziah never came back.
Jamalat has been charged with kidnapping and detaining the girl, while Fatimah has been charged with concealing her husband and sister-in-law’s crimes.
Junaidi is currently being held at Abyar Ali General Prison in Madinah. The couple’s four children are currently at the Taiba Children’s Village; a fifth child is with Fatimah in jail.
