17 Indians to avoid death penalty in UAE

Seventeen Indians on death row in the United Arab Emirates on conviction of killing a Pakistani are to avoid execution by paying over $900,000 in "blood money," The National newspaper said on Thursday. "The victim's family accepted an increased blood money payment of 80 million Pakistani rupees," or about $927,000, after rejecting an offer of 427,000 dirhams (some $116,000), the Abu Dhabi-based daily reported. The offer was presented to an appeals court in Sharjah, an emirate north of Dubai, on Tuesday, it said, adding that "lawyers believe a final judgment may be issued as early as next week, and the men could be back with their families in months." Under sharia, or Islamic law, the family of a murder victim can waive the death penalty for the perpetrator. This is often done in exchange for payment, or "blood money." A Sharjah court of first instance in March 2010 sentenced the 17 to die after convicting them of beating to death a Pakistani man identified as Masri Khan in what was said to be a dispute between rival bootleg liquor gangs. However, the convicts have "denied any knowledge of the deceased and denied being involved in a bootlegging operation that allegedly led to the man’s death," The National said in a previous article. They said that "they had never spoken to a public prosecutor, and all the confessions were extracted by police after severe beatings," it said.