A man who was sentenced to eight months in prison, 400 lashes, and ordered to dig ten graves has welcomed the Court of Cassation's decision to overrule the last part of the sentence. “This is disrespectful work in my region, and the ruling has gone some way to restoring my reputation,” said the unnamed man, who was found guilty of shooting his maternal uncle. The convicted man still maintains his innocence saying he was in Riyadh at the time of the killing and has asked authorities to review the case. The original judge in the case ordered that the accused dig ten graves in exchange for reducing his sentence of eight months in prison to seven, while the Court of Cassation in Makkah later upheld the eight-month imprisonment ruling and the 400 lashes, but annulled the grave-digging sentence. Judge Mohammed Aal Abdul Karim who issued the original grave-digging ruling which was accompanied by a number of stipulations including the specific depth of each grave, is, according to sources, well-known for his “alternative sentences”.
