‘I Never Thought He’d Die’ – Stevo Munyakho Breaks Silence After 14 Years on Saudi Death Row
Although Munyakho insists there was no intention to harm, the confrontation ended in tragedy and a trial that would change his life forever.
Stephen Munyakho, a Kenyan man formerly on death row in Saudi Arabia, addresses the media on Wednesday, July 30, in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Musalia Mudavadi.
By Mercy Chelangat
After spending more than a decade behind bars in Saudi Arabia, Stephen “Stevo” Munyakho has opened up for the first time about the painful journey that led him from a restaurant warehouse job to the edge of execution and ultimately, to freedom.
Munyakho, who had been living and working in Saudi Arabia since 1996, was arrested in April 2011 following a workplace scuffle that turned deadly. His colleague, Abdul Halim Mujahid Makrad Saleh, a Yemeni national who worked at the same establishment, died after the altercation.
Although Munyakho insists there was no intention to harm, the confrontation ended in tragedy and a trial that would change his life forever.
Initially convicted of manslaughter, Munyakho’s sentence was later upgraded to capital punishment under Sharia law after the deceased’s family demanded justice through execution, rejecting early attempts of financial compensation.
Speaking during an exclusive interview aired on Citizen TV’s JKL Live on July 30, 2025, Munyakho expressed deep sorrow and confusion over the incident.
“This tragedy… I cannot tell how it came about because Abdul Halim was a good friend of mine. We worked together and even used to eat together,” he said in an interview aired on Citizen TV’s JKL Live on July 30, 2025.
The turning point in his case came in 2016 when a Saudi judge ruled that while Munyakho was to be executed, the actual implementation of the sentence would have to wait until the children of the deceased, then still underage, were old enough to weigh in on the matter, as permitted under Sharia law.
That judicial delay opened the door to negotiations that would drag on for nearly a decade.
Over the years, several offers of ‘diya’ (blood money) were tabled and rejected. At one point, the victim’s family demanded 10 million riyals, the equivalent of around Ksh400 million, an amount well beyond what Munyakho’s family or community could raise. But in March 2025, a deal was finally reached. The family accepted $1 million (roughly Ksh129 million) following a high-level fundraising effort coordinated by Kenya’s Muslim community, the national government, and international religious leaders.
His release was granted soon after, and before leaving Saudi Arabia, Munyakho performed Umrah, a spiritual pilgrimage he had long dreamed of during his imprisonment.
He landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on July 29 to a deeply emotional welcome by family members, supporters, and government representatives who had followed his case for years.
Reflecting on his time at Shimeisi Prison, a detention center that primarily holds foreign nationals, Munyakho described a bleak, repetitive existence.
“You wake up, you pray, you sleep, you eat… If there is an open area, you do your press-ups… then you sleep again,” he recalled.
One year into his imprisonment, in 2012, Munyakho converted to Islam. It was, he says, not just a religious shift but a mental and emotional lifeline.
He credits a prison guard with sparking his spiritual journey, a man who gave him English-language Islamic books and told him something that left a lasting impression:
“This imprisonment of yours was written for you even before you came from your mother’s womb,” a guard told him — words that, Munyakho said, never left his heart.
From that moment, he embraced the phrase “Kwa Wakati Wake” Swahili for “In His Time” as a reminder that things happen according to divine timing, not human plans.
He also came to reinterpret the phrase “Inshallah” often uttered by fellow inmates and officers, not as a vague promise, but as a profound surrender to divine will.
“At first, I thought ‘Inshallah’ was a way of brushing you off. But I came to realize it’s about accepting that things happen in Allah’s time, not yours,” he said.
Now free and back in Kenya, Munyakho says he is focused on rebuilding his life. Though he’s still processing the trauma of prison life, his voice was steady when asked about his future.
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