MAKKAH, 16 May 2007 — Sheikh Jaber Al-Midkhali, a well-known Islamic scholar and secretary-general of the Department for Haj Awareness, died at the Al-Noor Specialist Hospital in Makkah yesterday.
Midkhali was taken to hospital after he was found in a pool of blood in a street close to his house in Makkah on Sunday evening, informed sources told Arab News.
It was not clear whether the Haj official died as a result of a road accident or an attack by unknown assailants. Maj. Abdul Mohsen Al-Maiman, spokesman of Makkah police, told Arab News that they had launched an investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading to Midkhali’s death. Brig. Turki Al-Qenawi, director of Makkah police, was following up the probe.
The scholar’s son told Arab News that he had found his father in a pool of blood in the street and had taken him to a nearby private hospital.
Midkhali was later transferred to the Al-Noor Specialist Hospital for advanced treatment. However, doctors there failed to save his life.
Ahmed ibn Qassim Al-Ghamdi, director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in the Makkah region, expressed his grief and sorrow over the death of Sheikh Midkhali.
