RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has smashed sculptures of horses erected on a roundabout in the southwest after the kingdom’s top cleric denounced them as sinful, local media reported yesterday.
The municipality in the town of Abu Arish in Jazan province bordering Yemen demolished the statues on Tuesday, local online news website jizantoday.org reported.
The decision came after Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Shaikh sent a letter to the governor of Jizan demanding that “the sculptures be removed because they are a great sin and are prohibited under Shariah (Islamic law),” said another news webitse, sabq.org.
Statues of people and animals are prohibited under Islam as they represent a form of idolatry. However, the religion does allow artworks depicting plants and landscapes.
Ex-Gaddafi PM spent billions to buy support
TRIPOLI: A Libyan court yesterday adjourned until August the murder and corruption trial of Muammar Gaddafi’s last premier, who allegedly spent billions of dollars trying to buy support during the uprising that ousted the dictator.
Al Baghdadi Al Mahmudi, dressed in prison blues, appeared in the Tripoli court accused of “gratuitously killing people” and of “misappropriating public funds” during the 2011 revolt.
He was accompanied by fellow defendants Al Mabruk Zahmul and Amer Salah Terfas, both former executives of an investment company run by the late dictator’s son, Seif Al Islam.
They are accused of moving ¤15m ($20m) to private accounts in neighbouring Tunisia to finance logistical support for loyalist forces during the nearly year-long war.
Money was also allegedly sent to other countries, but details were not given.
In addition, prosecutor Al Seddik Al Sur told a press conference after the hearing that “three to four billion dinars ($2.3bn, $3.1bn) was used by (Mahmudi) during the insurrection to corrupt politicians inside and outside the country to align themselves with the regime.”
Israeli settlers storm Al Aqsa Mosque
Ramallah: Several Israeli settlers yesterday stormed Al Aqsa Mosque compound from Bab Al Maghariba in Jerusalem’s Old City, and clashed with the palestinians there under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
They were backed by Israeli forces who attacked the Palestinians using tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets. Israeli forces also beat the Palestinian protesters.
A Palestinian source in the Al Aqsa compound told Jordanian News Agency Petra in Ramallah yesterday that the Israeli police, stationed at the mosque’s gates, had stepped up inspections of Palestinian students and had withheld their identity cards until they left the mosque.
Algerian president makes TV appearance
ALGIERS: Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appeared on state television yesterday for the first time since he was rushed to hospital in France on April 27 after a stroke.
Bouteflika, 76, had not been seen in public since.
The release of the video and a photograph of the same scene appeared aimed at quelling widespread speculation about his health.
The footage showed the president at a meeting on Tuesday with the prime minister and the army chief of staff at the Institution Nationale des Invalides in Paris.
The official APS news agency said the meeting was to discuss Algeria’s political and security situation.
Agencies
