Saudi Gazette report

HAIL — The Ministry of Justice has strongly denied reports that a court verdict was issued to deliberately paralyze a Saudi convicted of an attack that left his best friend paralyzed, Al-Sharq newspaper reported Tuesday.

Ali Al-Khawahir stabbed his friend in the back 10 years ago when he was 14. The victim was paralyzed from the waist down.



Foreign media picked up on Al-Hayat daily’s original report, which claimed Al-Khawahir would also have to be paralyzed as part of an “eye-for-an-eye” sentence handed down by a court.



However, the ministry said a different verdict was handed out that did not involve injuring Al-Khawahir in such a manner.



In a statement, the ministry said the media should verify such reports before publishing them and criticized human rights bodies for continuing to spread the earlier story.



The Al-Hayat report said the victim requested SR2 million in the beginning to forgive his assailant but later reduced the amount to SR1 million.

If Al-Khawahir did not pay this amount, the paralysis sentence would be carried out, the report said.