Saudi prisoner executed in Iraq wishes to be buried in Madinah

“Bury me in Madinah, take good care of my wife and pay my debts to a commercial bank and a debt of $800 to a prison mate,” said Abdullah Azzam Al-Qahtani, a Saudi prisoner, who was executed in Iraq on Sunday.

Al-Qahtani had been in Iraqi prisons since 2009.

An official source at the Saudi Embassy in Baghdad said the body will be flown to the Kingdom after the completion of normal procedures in such cases.

Hamid Ahmed, lawyer of Saudi prisoners in Iraq, said that Al-Qahtani was executed in the notorious Al-Nassiriyah prison to the south of Baghdad.

The execution came as surprise to him as the implementation of the verdict was stopped about three months ago by the attorney general.

The death sentence was passed on Al-Qahtani about 18 months ago.

Al-Qahtani was among five Saudi prisoners in Iraq sentenced to death. There are 69 Saudis incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.

When Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad in December after a hiatus of 25 years, the issue of Saudi prisoners in Iraq was its top priority.

Thamir Al-Sabhan, the Kingdom’s new ambassador to Baghdad, said in an interview at that time, “We have collected detailed data of the prisoners including their names and the charges against them ahead of assigning lawyers for them.”

The ambassador called for respecting the human rights of all prisoners and said they will close this file in the coming few days. He said they are currently studying the files and profiles of a number of lawyers and law firms to assign them to represent the Saudi prisoners before Iraqi courts.

The 69 Saudi prisoners are distributed in various prisons, including the notorious Al-Nassiriyah prison where Shia militias have threatened to kill the Saudi prisoners.