NAIROBI, Kenya, June 13 – Saudi Arabia authorities have extended the deadline for the execution of Kenyan Stephen Munyakho to November 26 amid talks on blood money.
According to Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei the government continues to actively search for a resolution of the outstanding and complex matter.
“I wish to notify the public that we continue to actively search for the resolution of the outstanding and complex matter regarding Stephen Munyakho,” he stated.
“Following our intervention, the deadline for the collection of compensation has been extended by four months from the initial 26th of July 2024 to the 26th of November 2024.”
Sing’Oei asserted that the foreign ministry is working with Stephen’s family and will consolidate all fundraising efforts on the week beginning July 8 to assess progress made.
Likewise, he averred that the government is exhausting all available diplomatic channels in a bid to ensure Stephen is home with family.
Stephen Munyakho, 50, was due to be executed in June for the murder of a Yemeni man in 2011.
His family has been making an effort to raise a 3.5 million Saudi Riyals (approximately Sh120 million) diyah or blood money required to secure his freedom under the Islamic legal system, known as Sharia.
He is the son of veteran journalist Dorothy Kweyu.
