Ahead of the Saudi king's visit to India, a court in Saudi Arabia has pardoned an Indian national for partially blinding a Saudi national and spared him from having his eye gouged out as punishment. "The victim has pardoned Naushad. This has been authenticated by a Saudi court," Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed told reporters in New Delhi on Monday. The decision to pardon Naushad, currently held in a Saudi jail, was officially conveyed to Ahamed by Saudi Ambassador Saleh Mohammed Al-Ghamdi on Monday evening. "We are very grateful to the Saudi government for this generous act," Ahamed said. "This is just the right gesture that will boost goodwill between the two countries."
| All my very good friends are very grateful to me when I don't gouge their eyes out, too. I think of it as a gesture of our deep and abiding friendship. |
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