JEDDAH, 7 June — The imam of a mosque in Taif shot his father-in-law dead on Wednesday following a family dispute, Al-Watan daily reported yesterday.
Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed has ordered a probe into the incident which occurred inside a mosque east of the western summer resort.
The imam, who also worked for the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, shot his father-in-law after the latter stabbed him in the back.
"The incident happened when the imam was about to enter the mosque for the Asr prayer," the paper said quoting informed sources. The imam later entered the mosque and took his gun and fired at the elderly man.
People in the area told the Arabic daily that the victim and the imam were reputable persons.
According to Saleh M. Al-Zahrani, a Saudi, the dispute between the families started more than a year ago.
Police took the elderly man as well as his wounded son-in-law to King Faisal Specialist Hospital where the father-in-law succumbed to gunshot injuries. The imam, according to Al-Watan, was in the intensive care unit.
In a similar incident in the southern region of Jizan, a Saudi was stabbed to death and another man was wounded following a dispute between two families in the village of Ramada. According to Al-Watan, police have arrested the suspects in the case.
