Sentence carried out less than a month after another royal was executed for murder

Manama: A Saudi prince was given lashes in application of a court ruling that also included a prison sentence for breaking the law.

The lashing was carried out on Monday afternoon inside a prison in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

A committee tasked with the application of court sentences made sure the lashing was in line with the regulations, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Wednesday.

The committee received the go-ahead for the lashing after a doctor examined the prince and concluded that he was free of diseases that could prevent or postpone carrying out the court sentence.

Five people representing various agencies witnessed the lashing carried out by a policeman, the daily said.

Last month, a Saudi prince, Turki Bin Saud Bin Turki Al Kabeer, was executed after he was found guilty of murder in a collective altercation and the family of the victim refused to pardon him or to accept blood money.

Saudi Arabia’s justice system follows a strict interpretation of Shariah law that treats homicide and unintentional homicide as a civil dispute between people, and not a corrective punishment by the state to maintain order.

In the cases of death, injury, and damage, the prosecutor is the victim or the victim’s family and if the family or heir accepts the diyah (blood money or the financial compensation paid to the victim or heirs of a victim), the killer is pardoned.

When the victim’s family grants a pardon for blood money, the state does not prosecute.