The execution of two British nurses could seriously damage Anglo-Saudi relations, badly soured by the 1980 uproar over the British documentary Death of a Princess, which showed the beheading of a Saudi princess for adultery. From the Saudi side, Britain remains damned for allowing dissident Mohammed al-Masari to remain in the U.K. despite Saudi pressure to have him expelled. Mullins says the Saudi judiciary is not independent of government. The judicial process, too, makes the death penalty unlikely. Even then, a three-step review process would delay execution for up to two years.
Western sensibilities recoil from the form of that forfeit.
Not so, says Salah al-Hejailan, the nurses' Saudi lawyer. All we're trying to do is what is right by my sister. But with two lives and a diplomatic relationship in the balance, it was never going to be that simple.