JEDDAH, 8 February — Jerry Rodway, father of Christopher Rodway who was killed in a car bomb attack in Riyadh last November, was quoted as saying yesterday that he would not accept money to spare the lives of his son’s killers.
“I have full confidence in the Saudi legal system and I will support a death sentence if the suspects are convicted. I refuse to accept any financial settlement,” he told Al-Watan Arabic newspaper.
Islamic law allows heirs of the victim to spare a murderer’s life in exchange for “blood money”.
Briton Alexander Mitchell confessed on Saudi Television last Sunday that he carried out the bomb attack on Christopher Rodway, also a British citizen, on Nov. 17. Jerry Rodway said he had suffered a heart attack after hearing the news of his son’s death.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Prince Naif confirmed yesterday that foreign nationals, not foreign countries, were to be blamed for two bomb attacks in Riyadh.
He announced on Sunday that Mitchell, William Sampson, a Canadian, and Raf Skivens, a Belgian, were behind two bomb attacks in Riyadh.
According to Al-Hayat newspaper, Saudi Arabia will not prevent the British Embassy in Riyadh from appointing a lawyer to defend Mitchell after the completion of investigations.
Mitchell said he had received orders to carry out the bombings, but did not say who gave him the orders or why. Sampson helped him to carry out the two bombings. The Belgian admitted that he was involved in the second bombing, which injured three Britons and an Irish woman.
In a related development, a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace denied a report broadcast on Channel Three of British Television that Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, had canceled a scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia.
“This report is baseless,” the spokeswoman told Al-Watan daily. She said the prince’s advisers were putting final touches to the royal visit.
Prince Naif held talks with British Ambassador Derek Plumbly on Monday, a day after Mitchell confessed to the bombings.
Al-Hayat newspaper said the ambassador was briefed on the investigations on Mitchell. The Arabic daily said Plumbly had not expressed any reservations on the mode of investigations carried out by the Saudi authorities.
Informed sources said the Saudi government had informed foreign embassies about the arrest of the three alleged bombers as well as other foreign nationals.
Prince Naif also met with the Belgian ambassador to the Kingdom yesterday and discussed issues of mutual concern.
