Love to the grave: the tragic story of an Arab princess who was executed because of love

It is only in the fairy tale about Aladdin that an oriental beauty can marry a commoner who has won her heart. In fact, the fate of local girls is predetermined almost immediately after their birth. Their parents choose their future husband for them, and any compromises in this matter are excluded.

Even for the granddaughter of the ruler of Saudi Arabia himself, there can be no indulgences. But what happens if the princess falls in love with an ordinary young man and wants to connect her life with him? Read about the history of such tragic love in our material.

Let's start with a little background. In the 1960s, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the sixth son of Ibn Saud, the founder of the state, was to become the head of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But the crown Prince never became a ruler. Under the pressure of his elder brother Faisal, who became king, he was forced to cede the rights to the throne to his younger brother Khalid.

All because Mohammed had a bad temper and liked to take a sip of the bottle. At least drinking alcoholic beverages in Saudi Arabia is forbidden, who will argue with the son of the Ibn Saud?

Despite his notoriety, Mohammed continued to be one of the most valuable people in the state. He was often asked for advice, first by King Khalid, then by King Fahd. In addition, he was considered the richest member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia. By the way, Mohammed also made a lot of efforts to replenish it and continue the family — six sons Fahd, Bandar, Badr, Saad, Abdallah and Abdel Aziz were born to him from different wives.

In general, the offspring of the founder of Saudi Arabia Abdul-Aziza has about 7 thousand prince-emirs! Just imagine, from 12 wives he had 45 sons who became legitimate heirs to the throne. However, some modern men have managed to surpass Abdul-Aziz many times: earlier we talked about the most famous "baby makers" - the fathers of 106, 125 and even 800 children!

Let's get back to our story. In 1958, Mohammed had a granddaughter, who was named Mishaal bint Fahd bin Mohammed Al Saud. The girl was a real beauty and a favorite of the family. Since childhood, she grew up in luxury, not knowing anything to refuse. Even King Khalid, the girl's uncle— doted on her. But universal love did not ease her difficult fate in any way.

The fact is that Mishaal could not actually control her fate. As soon as the young beauty grew up, her parents decided that they would marry her to one of the great many cousins-princes. Which one exactly? It doesn't matter. The main thing is procreation, everything else is unnecessary formalities.

It was pointless to contradict her parents, but the girl said that she wanted to get a higher education before marriage. They could not refuse their pet, so they sent her to study at a university in Lebanon. At that time, there was no opportunity for a woman to get an education in Saudi Arabia.

By the way, the rights of local women are still severely restricted in this country. For example, if a girl is raped, then she will be responsible before the law, since she allegedly "provoked" the rapist. You can read about other strange orders of the Saudis in our material.

Mishaal went to Lebanon accompanied by numerous guards and servants. But even round-the—clock supervision did not prevent her from doing what usually happens with 19-year-old girls - falling in love with a charming young man. The object of her adoration was the son of the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Khaled al-Shaer Mulhallal. If in In Russia, the ambassador's son would most likely belong to the "cream" of society, then in In Saudi Arabia, a country where most of the power functions are carried out by crown princes—emirs - he was considered a commoner.

The romance of Princess Mishaal and Khaled initially had no chance of a happy ending. According to the laws of Saudi Arabia, for any extramarital affairs, young people could face the death penalty. Whether the lovers decided to go so far is not known for certain. However, the mere fact that the princess was left alone with an outsider was enough for a scandal to break out.

Despite all the risks, Mishaal and Khaled continued to communicate. Since the girl was always surrounded by a large retinue, it was not possible to keep their romance a secret for too long. Upon returning to Saudi Arabia, one of the servants told the king about the strange connection of the princess with a commoner.

Then, realizing that her life was in danger, Mishaal took an even more risky step — she tried to escape. The girl came to the city Jeddah, located on the Red Sea, threw her clothes by the water, hoping that she would be considered drowned, changed into men's clothes and went to the airport. There, using forged documents, the princess tried to leave the country, but the airport security recognized her and took her into custody.

When Mishaal was brought back, she appeared in court. According to the law, adultery must be confirmed by at least 4 witnesses, but in the case of the princess, there could not be such purely theoretically. In addition, she herself admitted that there was an intimate relationship. Is it really true, or did the girl decide to express a gesture of protest against the harsh rules of Sharia in this way, it is unknown. In any case, she was found guilty.

Khaled al-Shaer Mulhallal was immediately sentenced to death, but there was some doubt about the princess for a while. King Khalid himself insisted that the girl could be spared. But here is the grandfather of the oriental beauty Mohammed ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was nicknamed Abu Sharayan ("Father of Two Evils") for his bad temper, said: the violator is facing the death penalty.

On July 15, 1977, Khaled and Mishaal were taken to the central square. The process was led by Mohammed Al Saud himself. The young people were tied up and presented to the public. Since the princess was a member of the royal family, she managed to avoid being stoned. The girl was put on her knees and shot in the head. Khaled was waiting for a more brutal punishment.

Usually, a professional executioner is invited to execute the death sentence, which saves the criminal from unnecessary torment. But in some cases, in order to toughen the already severe punishment, this task is entrusted to an amateur. That's what they did with Khaled.

The guy's head was ordered to be cut off by one of Mohammed's family members, who had never killed people in this way before. As a result, the head from the shoulders of the unfortunate Khaled flew off only with the fifth blow. It is terrible to imagine what suffering the young man experienced in those last minutes of his life.

After this story, women's rights in Saudi Arabia has been tightened even more (although where much more?). Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud admitted that he never regretted what he did to his granddaughter. According to him, the fact that the girl was in the same room with a stranger was enough to punish her.