3 Sri Lankan robbers executed in Jeddah

RIYADH: Three Sri Lankans and an Egyptian were beheaded for murder and armed robbery in Jeddah and the Eastern Province on Monday. According to the Ministry of Interior, the Egyptian was convicted of stabbing and strangling to death a fellow citizen following an argument. The three Sri Lankans were convicted of breaking into the home of 60-year-old Yemeni Omar Yeslam in 2007, striking him on the head, suffocating him, and stealing his money. The Supreme Court in Jeddah upheld the death sentence for the three Sri Lankans. The verdict was affirmed by a five-member panel of judges presided over by the chief justice. The panel said no blood money could be paid because it was a public case. The three who were executed were K.A.P. Gayan Uditha Nanayakkara, Thushara Dinesh Perera alias Isaac Christy Vedamanikkam, and W.M. Nilantha Bandara Tennakoon. Prior to the execution, the parents of the convicted men were given an opportunity by their government to meet them. However, the parents refused to do so and appealed to the Saudi government to release them. Others convicted for their involvement in the crime were P.R.M. Ranjith Wasantha Kumara, Noora Mohamed and Rajiya Abdul Samad, who were sentenced to lashes and imprisonment of 10, 4, and 2 years. Five Indians involved in the crime were sentenced by the court to varying terms of imprisonment and lashes. -arabnews