Saudi student injured in Boston blasts doing well, says father

JEDDAH: The father of the 20-year-old Saudi student who was injured in the deadly Boston blasts has said his son was indeed questioned about the explosions but only as a routine procedure.
Ali Alharbi, speaking to Saudi media on Wednesday, said his son Abdurrahman was just one of more than hundreds people of various nationalities who were questioned by investigators looking into the blasts that killed three people and injured more than 170 others.
Abdurrahman was watching the Boston Marathon on April 16 when two bombs placed in trash bins exploded. He sustained injuries in the body.
Another Saudi, identified as Noura Al-Ajaji, was said to have sustained a slight injury and was declared out of danger.
On Wednesday, Alharbi tweeted on Abdurrahman's Twitter account and said his son was now out of danger and is receiving excellent care at the hospital where he is confined.
He also posted pictures for Abdurrahman, including one showing the student with the Saudi consul general in New York, Azzam Al Gain, during the official's visit at the hospital room.
Abdurrahman had been a hot topic among US media, with one article published by The New Yorker, titled The Saudi Marathon Man, questioning whether he was the victim of racial profiling.
Reports have it that while Abdurrahman was in hospital being treated for his wounds, a “phalanx” of officers and agents and K9 unit searched his apartment.
"What made them suspect him? He was running — so was everyone. The police reportedly thought he smelled like explosives; his wounds might have suggested why. He said something about thinking there would be a second bomb — as there was, and often is, to target responders.
"If that was the reason he gave for running, it was a sensible one. He asked if anyone was dead—a question people were screaming. And he was from Saudi Arabia, which is around where the logic stops. Was it just the way he looked, or did he, in the chaos, maybe call for God with a name that someone found strange?" said the article authored by Amy Davidson.