Kix

They do here.

You must recall the stories a few years back of "Asians" purposely being knocked down as the 200k would make a massive difference to their family.

That's over 11 years salary - based on 1500/month.

britexpat76

That is exactly it. Same if you murder someone the family has the choice of the death penalty or Blood money. Once blood money is paid your conviction is finished.

Bahtatboy

Creating Life
Surrogate mother: £3,000-10,000
IVF: £3,050
Sperm Donation: Max £35 according to HFEA (Scamp may be cheaper)

Preventing Life
1 Durex: £1
3 months' supply of Pill: £11.50
Roman Catholicism: Incalculable

Continuing Life
Preventing the death of one of the 78 million children worldwide suffering from malnutrition: £5 a month
Proton-beam generator for treating prostate cancer: $200m

Ending Life
Amateur assassination in UK: £200
Professional hit in US: $25,000 - 200,000
Dignitas: EUR 4,000

Penalty for Ending Life
Saudi: Sliding scale according to gender, Muslim/non-Muslim, and age(?)
UAE: Seems we have the most up-to-date data available right here
The real world: incarceration ranging from a couple of years (the mother of Baby P is, apparently, about to be released after serving 3 years--don't read about his injuries unless you have nerves of steel) to life-meaning-life, to death by one of eight different methods used officially today: lethal injection, gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad, hanging, stoning, beheading, and cruxification, plus all manner of ****ed-up methods used by despotic regimes and (usually religious) people to kill their own family members who have "brought shame" on the family.


So--and although I know what you meant--there are numerous different ways of calculating the price of a life. The bottom line being, in the case in question, is that for a country which openly declares that it aspires to have a legal system equalling or bettering those of the west, still to operate a blood-money system is, simply, ludicrous.

Blue Cat

know a couple of friends who got caught up in such situations, the courts saw through it thankfully, but it does still go on.

csdf

You've missed out another data point: the insurance coverage for loss of life. Axa, for instance, pay a "lump sum of up to US$. 27,500 for accidental death".

Millsyisland

I remember hearing about this when I first came here and was a bit concerned someone might leap out in front of my car but thankfully no-one has (yet), except the idiots trying to negotiate their way across 30th (Khaleej Al Arabi in Abu Dhabi) - effectively the M25 on steroids at peak times..

shiva

suicide for blood money happened to a friend of ours about 6 years or so ago. Guy jumped in front of her on SZR.
She spent months in court and was acquitted in the end but it totally destroyed her. She left pretty much as soon as the case ended.

Yoohoo

This happened to a friend of mine in Oman too. Unfortunately (I suppose) for both parties the suicide attempt was unsuccessful and the chap ended up in hospital for a long, long time.

It took about six months, lots of wasta and a dying mother for the Omani authorities to release my friend's passport. They took just a tad too long for my friend to actually make it to her mother's deathbed - something for which she has never forgiven them.

Maxima

Some people get blinded by the sun and the glitz in the Gulf, but they forget that when things go wrong, through no fault of yours, it gets much worse than at home or most parts of the 1st World