Al-Harbi puts US media speculation to rest

Saudi student Abdulrahman Al-Harbi, who was injured in the second explosion at the Boston Marathon bombings, said US authorities’ questioning at the hospital took no more than two hours.
Al-Harbi said he did not run after he was injured and was not arrested. “No one stopped me. When I was injured I asked a police officer where to go. I was the first injured person to arrive in hospital,” he told a local Arabic daily.
“The police asked to search my apartment as a precaution because I was the first to arrive in the hospital and I consented.” Al-Harbi, 20, is studying engineering in the United States on a scholarship.
Al-Harbi was watching the Boston Marathon on April 16 when two bombs placed on the sidewalk 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.
Some US media outlets claimed Al-Harbi tried to flee the bombing scene and that police arrested him, which he denied, saying that he had not been guarded at the hospital because he was not a suspect. He said the second explosion took place behind him and his injury was minor.
Al-Harbi thought the questioning was normal since every injured person in the hospital was interrogated. He said there was an increased security presence at the hospital but he was not guarded individually.
“Two investigators questioned me about what I saw and where I was and other information that may be of use,” Al-Harbi said. “Then they asked for my permission to search my apartment and I agreed.” Al-Harbi said that the erroneous media reports made him decide to change his apartment because they included his address and even photographs of his place “which is a violation of privacy.” Al-Harbi’s father said his son was just one of more than a hundred people of various nationalities questioned by investigators looking into the blasts that killed three people and injured 175 others.
On Wednesday, Al-Harbi posted on his Twitter account his photos, one of them showing him with the Saudi consul general in New York, Azzam Al-Gain, during the official’s visit to Al-Harbi’s hospital room.
Al-Harbi had been a hot topic in the US media, with one article published by The New Yorker questioning whether he was the victim of racial profiling.