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Indian victim's kin in Dubai pardon killer
Akthar Hussain was sentenced to death for killing Murthad Mohammed, who was then running a restaurant in Abu Samarah.
An Indian man's family has pardoned his Pakistani killer lodged in a prison here, setting the culprit free after 25 years.
Akthar Hussain, 70, was sentenced to death for killing Murthad Mohammed, an Indian, who was then running a restaurant in a hotel in Abu Samarah on the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain road.
The UAE authorities approached the Pothiyilthodi family of Thazhekode, in the Malappuram district of Kerala and asked whether they could pardon Hussain, who has already spent 25 years in jail, the Emirates Today reported.
"Our family pardoned the man on humanitarian grounds, for the sake of Allah and his family," Abdul Razak, Murthad's brother, who was murdered in July 1980 told the newspaper.
The Shariah Court in Al Ain sentenced Hussain to death while his companion was deported to Pakistan after his hands had been cut off for stealing.
The UAE ended judicial killings in June 1985, and Hussain's life was spared. A death sentence by a Shariah court can only be overturned with a family pardon.
