A disciplinary council is considering charges against 12 female students at the Women’s College in Abha who reportedly started a campus riot last week, during which they attacked other students. The college authorities have demanded written undertakings from the accused girls that they will abide by the rules and regulations of the institution until the disciplinary council makes a final decision in the case.
Five of the girls admitted to starting the riot by spreading a rumor that the college — where more than 4,000 students are studying — was about to suffer some kind of calamity and that all girls should leave immediately. They also used water pistols in their bid to remove girls from their classrooms.
The Women’s College in Madinah has meanwhile sought the advice of a disciplinary council in the case of two girls accused of creating a stampede and disrupting classes on March 26. They, too, spread a rumor that the college building was at the center of an earthquake.
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A muezzin stabbed the imam at his mosque following the night prayer in Taif last Friday. The imam and muezzin started to quarrel after the latter moved a prayer mat. The dispute inside the mosque developed into a fistfight, and finally resulted in the stabbing. Two other people who tried to stop the fight were also stabbed. All the injured were taken to the King Faisal Hospital.
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In another stabbing incident reported from Taif, a policeman was seriously injured when he was hit by a jeep involved in an accident. Soon after the injured passengers in the jeep were taken to hospital, a young man approached the policeman inquiring about the state of their health. While he was replying to the questions, the policeman was suddenly stabbed in his right shoulder by the youth. People standing nearby came to the policeman’s rescue.
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On Saturday, a Bangladeshi driver died in a road accident when his car collided with a SAPTCO bus near Rafah, in the northern part of the Kingdom. Because of the high number of accidents that have taken place on this border road, on which 175 people died in accidents last year, locals have renamed it the Highway of Death.
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A Saudi Arabian Airlines passenger jet headed for Riyadh had to crash-land on Saturday because of technical faults detected by the pilot soon after it took off from the Hail airport. None of the passengers were injured.
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Asir police arrested a five-member gang in Uhd Rafeeda, 45 kilometers east of Abha in Asir, on Thursday for allegedly robbing an expatriate Arab doctor at gunpoint. The drunken gang members took the doctor to a mountain resort in their car after offering him a lift to his house. There they robbed him. Police apprehended the gang within 10 hours, and returned the money to the doctor.
On Thursday, a 22-year-old Saudi in Riyadh’s Areeja district shot dead his 26-year-old uncle. Soon after the shooting, the victim was taken to Prince Salman Hospital, where doctors tried in vain to save his life.
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In Jeddah last Friday, a Bangladeshi working at an agricultural farm in Sadeer committed suicide by hanging himself. The expatriate worker, who had come to the Kingdom five months ago, had repeatedly requested that his sponsor send him back as quickly as possible. Police and forensic experts confirmed that the man had committed suicide. In Riyadh an Indian named Soman also committed suicide, by cutting his jugular vein.
- Compiled by Abdul Haleem
