The Kingdom’s moral police said here Wednesday that a report published about an assassination attempt in August by hard-liners opposing reforms, on the body’s leader Sheikh Abdul Latif Al-Asheikh, was “not correct.”

“We confirm that the version of the story as published was not correct,” said Sheikh Turki Al-Shuhail, spokesman for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia), in a media statement on Wednesday.

Al-Shuhail could not be reached to answer further questions on the report despite repeated attempts by Arab News to contact him.

Arabic daily Al-Watan reported on Wednesday that someone tried to run over Al-Asheikh with a car as he was leaving a mosque after performing Fajr prayers in August this year.

On his Twitter account, Al-Watan Editor in Chief Talal Hasan Al-Asheikh tweeted that the newspaper has evidence confirming its version of the story and it would publish more information about it.

He said the Haia statement basically objected to the newspaper’s version of the story, implicitly “confirming the incident.”

In its front-page story, Al-Watan reported, quoting “reliable” sources, that “the assassination attempt has been confirmed … it followed news that a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood intended to liquidate Al-Asheikh after his decision to sack some Brotherhood leaders in the commission.”

It said these members of the Haia were opposed to reforms implemented by Al-Asheikh, including stopping Haia members from chasing cars on roads, sacking part-time workers, and dealing with those collecting donations in the name of the organization.