Saudi Arabia has rejected the offer to settle the murder case of four Saudis in Niger with the payment of blood money.
A Niger court had proposed $ 300,000 for each of the victims who were killed while on a hunting trip at a location close to the Niger-Mali border in 2009.
“We have made it clear to the authorities in Niger that we are not in need of money; the enormity of a horrendous crime cannot be effaced by money,” Saud Al-Dael, Kingdom’s ambassador to Niger, said.
Al-Dael said the murderers did not even spare a disabled man among the Saudi victims.
“We would not accept anything less than the severest punishment to the culprits.”
The mastermind of the murders is said to be Cheibane, who is also known as Alassane Ould Mohammed, a man of Malian origin with reported ties to Al-Qaeda. Cheibane’s crime-records include the murder of a US citizen in a carjack attempt in 2000. He escaped in a prison break at the Niamey jail early this month.
Meanwhile, Hadi Amsary, an accomplice in the murder, denied any knowledge about the whereabouts of the escaped culprit Cheibane, who is Amsary’s brother-in-law, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.
Amsary denied his knowledge about Cheibane’s whereabouts in an interrogation conducted by a Saudi security committee at the Niamey central prison where he is currently detained. The committee also asked Amsary to call his sister, who is Cheibane’s wife, to obtain information about her husband.
Al-Dael said the embassy has expressed its concerns to the Niger authorities about Amsary’s possible escape with the aid of corrupt jail officials.
Amsary was driving the vehicle carrying the six Saudi tourists. He took them to a dangerous location 150 km away from the capital Niamey shortly before dawn on Dec. 28, 2009. The Saudi tourists were performing Fajr prayers when they came under heavy fire. Four of the Saudis died in the attack and two others sustained serious injuries. Cheibane carried out the attack with the connivance of Amsary.
Niger police have arrested the prison director and deputy director on suspicion that the jail officials assisted in Cheibane’s escape from the central jail. The two officials are also accused of providing Internet connection and a mobile phone to Cheibane.
KSA rejects blood money for Saudis murdered in Niger
