Manama: A Saudi prisoner has been released after spending 22 years in jail during which time his family raised the 19.5 million riyals (Dh19 million) required in blood money.

“Our son Mohammad Bin Ali Al Qahas was released after spending time in jail for killing Saeed Sa’ad Al Salem,” Mohammad Al Qahas, the ex-prisoner’s uncle, said.

“Under an agreement reached with the victim’s family to pardon him, we paid them 19.4 million riyals and the accord was endorsed by a court in Dammam. The victim’s inheritors will get 18 million riyals and there is one million and a half to be paid for a house,” he said, quoted by Saudi news site Sabq.

The uncle added his family was grateful to all those who had supported and contributed to their son’s release.

“There are no words to describe our joy today as we see that our son has been pardoned, which allows him to be among us,” he said. “He is today 37 years old since he was sent to jail when he was 15,” he added.

Under Saudi law, the punishment for murder is capital punishment unless the victim’s family pardons the murderer.

Some families have been recently asking for large sums of money from the killer’s relatives in order to grant their pardon. The phenomenon of asking for onerous amounts, widespread mainly in rural areas, has often been often criticised as pure exploitation.

In their comments on the report, several media users expressed shock that a family could demand such a large amount of blood money to pardon the convict.

They said they were equally shocked the family insisted on the money and waited for 22 years to receive it.

“I cannot believe the victim’s family are still talking about a pardon,” Huda, a blogger, said. “A pardon should be for the sake of God, and not for the sake of money. A man spends his life in jail, you insist on such a large amount of money and then you dare talk about a pardon. I urge the authorities to set a specific amount for blood money and a specific date for granting pardons. You cannot waste a man’s life in prison and then talk about a pardon,” she said.