JEDDAH, 13 June 2004 — Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has called a reported Libyan plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah as “a heinous crime and an act of treason against Islam.”
“The Shariah is against assassination because they are criminal acts of treason. Muslims should condemn and distance themselves from such acts that reflect aggression and injustice,” Okaz Arabic daily quoted him as saying.
The United States was said to be investigating allegations that the Libyan intelligence service plotted to kill the crown prince. The New York Times reported on Thursday that two individuals involved in the conspiracy and now in custody in the US and the Kingdom provided statements outlining the plot.
The participants, Abdul Rahman Alamoudi, an American Muslim leader now in jails in the US and Col. Muhammad Ismael, a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody, have given separate statements to American and Saudi officials about the plot.
The mufti said it was the duty of Muslim scholars as well as Muslim and Arab organizations to reject such conspiracies and explain to the public the danger they pose.
He said the plotters must be brought to justice.
Local newspapers, meanwhile, continued commenting on the plot for the second day running. Okaz, which ran a caricature of the Libyan leader with a poem underneath it saying he was “draped in shame,” said the conspiracy has become a source of unity and solidarity for the Saudi people.
“Qaddafi is undermining every Arab effort aimed at strengthening the Arab nation’s unity and has committed all kinds of acts that continuously lead it to the brink of danger. His record overflows with plots,” it said.
Al-Watan said there was a gulf between the Saudi and Libyan attitudes. “The Kingdom has always been keen on the unity of the Islamic world and has always used its political weight... to help other Arab and Muslim countries,” it said.
The paper emphasized Saudi Arabia’s role in mediating to bring international sanctions against Libya to an end.
“Qaddafi returned the favor in his own way ... he met benevolence with harm and kindness with ingratitude,” it said.
In the 1980s, the United States imposed sanctions on Libya, accusing it of supporting terrorists and meddling in other countries’ affairs.
The US State Department still lists Libya as a state sponsor of terror, but says Libya has taken significant steps away from being a rogue state.
Al-Yaum daily ran an editorial under the headline “Dirty Hands” in which it said the allegation of a Libyan plot caught everyone by surprise.
“It confirmed that terrorism is not only confined to a deviant bunch, but also seems to include leaders, who are even more deviant,” it said.
The paper added Qaddafi’s 35 years of rule have been “marred by confusion and conspiracy.”
