RIYADH: A 97-year-old Saudi man waiting to be beheaded for murder has launched an appeal for donations of blood money in order to spare him from the death sentence, a local newspaper reported yesterday. H al-Zahrani, who has been imprisoned for several years, made his plea to raise 2.6mn riyals (approximately $700,000) for paying damages to his victimÂ’s family in the Al-Madina daily. The paper said Zahrani is being detained in Al-Baha, western Saudi Arabia, but did not disclose the date of his sentence or any details on the murder, saying only that the victimÂ’s family had agreed to pardon Zahrani in exchange for financial compensation. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. But a condemned person can earn a reprieve if the family of their victim agrees to accept money as compensation.