State To Update On A ‘New Development’ On Kenyan Facing Execution In Saudi

The government has said it is actively pursuing the matter involving Stephen Munyakho, who is facing execution in Saudi Arabia for the murder of a Yemeni man in 2011.

This, as the family continues to appeal for support to raise Sh150 million required for Munyakho’s blood money, known as “Diyah” under Islamic law, is necessary to secure a pardon from the victim’s family.

As of July last year, the family had managed to raise just Sh11 million.

Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV, Munyakho’s mother, Dorothy Kweyu, a veteran journalist, said his son is remorseful and continues to plead for forgiveness.

He has been in jail for the last 13 years.

“Stevo has asked for forgiveness, and he is still asking for it for the death of his friend and workmate. Stevo needs assistance, and we are requesting anything small that you may have so that we can bring him back home,” she said.

However, in a brief post in response, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei acknowledged the situation, saying they will soon provide an update regarding the matter.

“I am pleased to inform you that we shall provide a progress report to the public on this matter in the next few days,” he wrote.

He was scheduled to be executed on November 26, 2024, but this was postponed following consultations with Saudi authorities.

Munyakho, 50, was a warehouse manager.

He is said to have engaged in a fight with the colleague Abdul Halim Mujahid Makrad Saleh- at his office on April 9, 2011. Saleh, who was stabbed in the left thigh and thumb, walked himself to a hospital where he later died.

A Saudi Arabia court convicted Munyakho of manslaughter in October 2011, a sentence that was overturned by a Shariah court, which enhanced it to murder in June 2014.

Since then, Munyakho has been a state guest in various Saudi prisons.

According to Sharia law, Munyakho is a candidate for being led to a butchering field for beheading by the sword.

The execution was delayed because one of the victim’s sons was a minor and had to attain the age of majority to give consent as per the Shariah law.

The execution date was initially set for May 13, but after a reported diplomatic engagements by government officials, it was postponed.

After negotiations, in 2019, the Yemeni family agreed to blood money amounting to 10 million riyals, equivalent to Sh352.2 million.

Further negotiations reduced the amount to 3.5 million riyals last November, equivalent to Sh123 million at the current exchange rate.

Information given to the family indicates that the family scoffed at the SAR231,685 (equivalent to Sh8 million) that was put on the renegotiation table.