Tuesday, July 22, 2025 - Stephen Munyakho, a Kenyan national who had been facing execution in Saudi Arabia, has been released and is expected to return home soon.
This was confirmed on Tuesday by Foreign Affairs Principal
Secretary (PS) Korir Sing’oei.
Munyakho, who converted to Islam and now goes by the name
Abdulkareem, was released from Shimeisi Prison in the Governorate of Mecca at
10 a.m. local time, following the satisfaction of a judicial decree.
“Our Mission in Riyadh has confirmed that Steve performed
his Umrah (minor pilgrimage) upon release,” PS Sing’oei announced in a post on
X.
Munyakho had been working as a warehouse manager when he was
involved in a fatal altercation with a Yemeni colleague in April 2011.
He was sentenced to death by beheading and was scheduled for
execution in May 2023.
His release followed months of high-level negotiations
involving Kenyan diplomats and religious leaders.
In March, UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar revealed that a
$1 million (approximately Ksh.129 million) settlement was reached, with the sum
paid by the Muslim World League - a Saudi-based international Islamic NGO.
Omar disclosed that President William Ruto personally
engaged Dr. Muhammad Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the League, during his visit
to Kenya.
Dr. Al-Issa also attended a state Iftar dinner at State
House in Nairobi, where discussions reportedly gained momentum.
Munyakho’s case gripped national attention after his mother, veteran
journalist Dorothy Kweyu, pleaded with President Ruto to intervene and save her
son from execution.
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