MOSCOW, 1 November — The former Saudi minister for Islamic affairs, Abdullah Al-Turki, yesterday rejected Russian allegations that Chechen rebels who seized a Moscow theater last week had been funded by charities based in the Kingdom.
“There are no charities in Saudi Arabia that will help terrorism or sponsor it,” the Interfax news agency quoted Al-Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, as saying. Al-Turki said such claims were “built on sand.”
Asked to comment on a report that the Chechen rebels who were threatening to execute their 800 hostages had made telephone calls to Islamic organizations in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, Al-Turki said: “Such media-fed reports cannot be trusted as they are biased.”
Russian authorities have sought to connect the war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya with the global war on terrorism, alleging that the separatist insurgents are backed by shadowy Islamic organizations with links to the Al-Qaeda network.
Earlier addressing the staff and students of the Saudi Academy in Moscow, Al-Turki said the smear campaign against Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states was aimed at tarnishing the image of Islam and Muslims.
