Filipino Man Wins Last Minute Stay of Execution for $1 Million Blood Money

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Filipino man won a stay of execution hours before he was due to be beheaded for murdering his landlord in Saudi Arabia as his family were given four months to raise $1 million (£630,000) blood money.

Joselito Zapanta, a Philippine construction worker was sentenced to death after killing the Sudanese landlord in 2009.

The relatives of Salah Ibrahim, who was killed in a dispute with Zapanta, 34, over unpaid rent, however agreed to waive the sentence in return for blood money.

The predawn decision to put off the sentence came after a Philippine official handed in a written plea for more time to King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler.

Raul Hernandez, a spokesman for the Philippine government, said the Saudi government had given more time but could not defy the wishes of the bereaved.

"The family has been given four months to raise four million riyals," he said. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, November 14, 2012