Saudi Man Sentenced to Beheading for Killing Two in 'Drifting' Accident

By Larry McShane, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Credit: Ste!nex

While playing the reckless sport of ‘drifting,’ a driver crashes into the crowd.

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    ‘Drifting’s’ popularity can be at least partly explained by the lack of approved activities available to young people in Saudi Arabia.

    (Ste!nex)

2 photos

June 28, 2012 Updated Jun 28, 2012 at 2:44 PM PDT

A Saudi man was sentenced to beheading after his conviction for drifting and driving. The middle-aged thrill-seeker received the death penalty after killing two people while spinning wildly in his car near the capital city of Riyadh.

The doomed driver — identified only as “Muttanish,” or “he who ignores” — was participating in a strange local pastime known as drifting. Speeding joy-riders slam on their brakes to make their cars spin and skid to the delight of crowds assembled along the roadside.

A series of YouTube clips captured the grisly results when the drivers lose control and their autos careen into the crowds.

Officials in Saudi Arabia are treating the drifting deaths as the equivalent of criminally negligent homicide — albeit with a much harsher penalty.

‘Drifting’s’ popularity can be at least partly explained by the lack of approved activities available to young people in Saudi Arabia.

“Drifting” is one of the few forms of entertainment available in the country, where movie theaters don’t exist and unrelated men and women are barred from mingling.

To read more about this story at the New York Daily News, CLICK HERE.

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