Newspeg: “After nearly 11 years, an overseas Filipino worker has finally been saved from death row in Saudi Arabia, after the Saudi government agreed to pay SR2.3 million (about P24.9 million) in blood money sought by his victim’s kin. xxx
“(OFW Rodelio “Dondon”) Lanuza had been languishing in jail since 2000 for the killing of Saudi national Mohammad bin Said Al-Qathani. Xxx A report on Arab News said Lanuza worked in Saudi Arabia in 1996 as a draftsman. He admitted having stabbed Al-Qathani but said it was due to self-defense.” Xxx In 2002, he was sentenced to death by beheading, the Arab News report added.” (gmanetwork.com/news)
What is “blood money” under Islamic criminal law?
From: Matthew Lippman (Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago), Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure: Religious Fundamentalism v. Modern Law, 12 B.C. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 29 (1989), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr/vol12/iss1/3
“Criminal acts are divided into three categories. Hudud offenses are crimes against God whose punishment is specified in the Koran and the Sunna. 79 (footnotes removed due to space constraints). As God’s agent, the state initiates the prosecution of the accused. Quesas are crimes of physical assault and murder punishable by retaliation-the return of life for a life in case of murder.80 The victim or the surviving heirs may waive the punishment and ask for compensation (blood-money or diyya) or pardon the offender.81 Ta’azir are offenses whose punishments are not fixed by the Koran or Sunna and are within the discretion of the qadi.82
“Quesas and Ta’azir are offenses against the person and are private wrongs. The victim or heirs initiate prosecution of Quesas and, as noted, may waive punishment and ask for compensation or pardon the offender. The state initiates prosecution of Ta’azir (according to most jurists) as part of the ruler’s responsibility to maintain public order and welfare. The victim of Ta’azir may request the sovereign to exercise the power of grace or pardon (,afw), and the sovereign, at his discretion, may choose not to punish the offender.83
xxx
“2. Quesas Offenses
“Quesas means “equality” or “equivalence.”12o Quesas are divided into crimes against the person (murder) and crimes against the body (bodily injury). Quesas crimes include murder, voluntqry killing, ipvoluntary killing, intentional physical injury or maiming, and unintentional physical injury or maiming.121
“Islam considers murder to be the most serious crime against the person. xxx
“The murderer is executed unless the victim’s family demands compensation (diyya) or pardons the offender. xxx
xxx
“Judicial and governmental decisions must conform to the Shari’a. A governmental or judicial decision must be consistent with the Shari’a; otherwise it is a nullity. The Koran urges, “[f]ollow what has been sent down to you from your Lord, and follow no friends other than He …. “155 “Judgment belongs only to God; He has commanded that you shall not serve any but Him.”’56 Moreover, “[ w ]hoso judges not according to what God has sent down-they are the unbelievers.”157
News peg: MMDA tears down posters of “epal” politicians. [“epal” politicians are those who promote themselves thru the visual media (tarps and posters) and the multimedia (ads and other forms of publicity) in the guise of sending out greetings, giving free services, “sponsoring” infrastructure.]
Aside from the pertinent city ordinances prohibiting vandalism, the MMDA may also rely on the following provisions of the Civil Code:
Book II. Property, Ownership, and its Modifications. Title VIII.- Nuisance.
“Art. 694. A nuisance is any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property, or anything else which:
(1) Injures or endangers the health or safety of others; or
(2) Annoys or offends the senses; or
(3) Shocks, defies or disregards decency or morality; or
(4) Obstructs or interferes with the free passage of any public highway or street, or any body of water; or
(5) Hinders or impairs the use of property.
(Underscoring supplied)
Art. 695. Nuisance is either public or private. A public nuisance affects a community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance, danger or damage upon individuals may be unequal. A private nuisance is one that is not included in the foregoing definition.
Art. 697. The abatement of a nuisance does not preclude the right of any person injured to recover damages for its past existence.
Art. 698. Lapse of time cannot legalize any nuisance, whether public or private.
Art. 699. The remedies against a public nuisance are:
(1) A prosecution under the Penal Code or any local ordinance: or
(2) A civil action; or
(3) Abatement, without judicial proceedings.
Art. 704. Any private person may abate a public nuisance which is specially injurious to him by removing, or if necessary, by destroying the thing which constitutes the same, without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury. But it is necessary:
(1) That demand be first made upon the owner or possessor of the property to abate the nuisance;
(2) That such demand has been rejected;
(3) That the abatement be approved by the district health officer and executed with the assistance of the local police; and
(4) That the value of the destruction does not exceed three thousand pesos.
Art. 705. The remedies against a private nuisance are:
(1) A civil action; or
(2) Abatement, without judicial proceedings.
Art. 706. Any person injured by a private nuisance may abate it by removing, or if necessary, by destroying the thing which constitutes the nuisance, without committing a breach of the peace or doing unnecessary injury. However, it is indispensable that the procedure for extrajudicial abatement of a public nuisance by a private person be followed.
Art. 707. A private person or a public official extrajudicially abating a nuisance shall be liable for damages:
(1) If he causes unnecessary injury; or
(2) If an alleged nuisance is later declared by the courts to be not a real nuisance.
