JEDDAH, 8 December 2004 — Yemeni Ali Yuslam Al-Taleb Al-Katheery, 55, who had been the driver for American consuls in Jeddah for 26 years, was one of the five non-American expatriates killed in Monday’s attack.
Faisal Al-Taleb, a cousin of the slain driver, said he had contacted Ali by telephone soon after hearing the news of the attack. “He replied. But I learned from his voice that there was something wrong as somebody was preventing him from talking,” he told Arab News.
“I asked Ali whether he was OK. He just said ‘yes’ without talking more as he was apparently afraid of somebody, and cut short the conversation abruptly.
“I was really worried and called him again,” Faisal continued. “This time one of the terrorists took the phone. When I asked ‘Are you Ali?’ the man on the other side said angrily, ‘Curse be on you’ and shut the phone. He then switched off the mobile phone once and for all.”
Faisal then learned that Ali was one of the hostages taken by the terrorists after storming into the consulate. He later spoke to Ali’s wife, who is also Faisal’s sister, and tried to pacify her, as she was worried about her husband.
After learning that Saudi security forces had taken control of the situation and that a number of consulate staff had been either killed or injured during the terror attack, Faisal asked one of Ali’s sons to visit nearby hospitals to find out whether their father was among the injured.
The son first went to Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, located adjacent to the consulate, but he could not find his father there. Later Faisal himself went to King Fahd Hospital where he was shocked to see Ali’s body in the mortuary.
“I cannot explain the grief and sorrow I had when I saw his body and I did not know how to break the sad news to his family as his aged mother will not be able to bear this huge loss,” Faisal said, adding that Ali was a pious and good man.
A member of the consulate’s staff told Arab News that the terrorists had taken Ali and other workers at the motor pool and general service office as hostages and used them as human shield during the gun battle with security forces.
Ali is survived by his wife, three sons and five daughters. He had been living in the Kingdom for the past 40 years. He was one of the oldest staff of the US Consulate. Ali had the privilege of becoming the private driver of all American consuls in the city for more than a quarter of a century.
On Sunday, the consul had instructed Ali to come to office at about 10 a.m. on Monday. “He went to the consulate at 8 a.m. and his family was wondering why he was going to office so early on that day,” Faisal explained. But nobody knew that Ali had an appointment with destiny.
