His Excellency the Minister: The Incident is a Heinous crime and Severely Hurts Us

His Excellency the Minister, Sheikh Dr. Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh, denounced the criminal incident committed by one of the Saudi students in the United States, which resulted in the killing of four people (including the perpetrator), stressing that Florida incident is a heinous crime, and that the perpetrator represents neither us nor our true religion. He also said that Islam is a divine religion that calls for compassion, justice and good to all humanity, without discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity or region. He added that this incident severely hurts the Saudi people. The leadership of the Kingdom and its citizens do not approve this despicable act, and disassociate themselves from it and its perpetrator. His Excellency the Minister, Dr. Abdullatif Al Al-Sheikh, noted the Kingdom and the United States have long-standing historical relations, since it was founded by the late King Abdulaziz, and American President Roosevelt. Such passing incident would not affect this relation. The Minister also praised the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may Allah support him, to direct all security agencies in the Kingdom to cooperate with the security agencies in the United States to find out the facts surrounding this crime. His Excellency the Minister added: We don’t forget the humanitarian act done by the two Saudi students, Jasir Al Rakah and Theeb Al Yami, upon rescuing two children who were pulled by the river’s waves, but they sank in the US State of Massachusetts for this. In addition to what the Saudi scholarship student, Ahmed Al Muhaimid, did when he risked his life and saved an elderly man from drowning in a Docklands river in Melbourne, Australia, indicating that these actions are what our true religion, its tolerant teachings and lofty principles call for. This also consist with our customs and traditions on which we were brought up. His Excellency the Minister, Sheikh Dr. Abdullatif Al Al-Sheikh, concluded his statement by offering condolences to the families of those killed, and wishing the injured speedy recovery. He reaffirmed the condemnation of this heinous incident and crime, and that it is an assault, aggression and killing of forbidden souls and shedding of protected blood.