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February 18, 2005 |
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THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR: WE REJECT MOVES TO CLASSIFY SAUDIS INTO ISLAMISTS AND NON-ISLAMISTS. SIGNING A COOPERATION AGREEMENT IN THE FIELD OF SECURITY AND COMBATING NARCOTICS AND PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES BETWEEN SAUDI ARABIA AND TURKEY. THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA PROVIDES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR REBUILDING HOUSES IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES. Winners of Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz International Prize For Sunnah (Prophet's teachings) and Contemporary Islamic Studies were announced. The announcement was made by Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Interior Minister and Chairman of the Higher Commission for the prize. Winners of the branch of Sunnah were: Fatima bint Salih Al-Jarid, a Saudi, Dr Hikmat Ibn Basheer Yasmeen, an Iraqi, and Dr Rukeyya bint Taha jaber Al-Alwani, a Bahraini. Winners of the branch of the contemporary Islamic studies included Dr Rawya bint Ahmad Abdel-Karim Al-Dhahhar, a Saudi,, and Sheikh Adnan Ibn Mohammed Al-Ar'our, a Syrian. Prince Naif said the prize awarding ceremony will be organized in the first half of Rabee -al-Awwal, 1426AH, under the patronage of Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz will give away the Prince Naif International Prize for Sunnah and Islamic Studies at a ceremony to be held in Madinah in April. "The Crown Prince has agreed to distribute the prize in the first half of Rabiul Awwal (April)," Interior Minister Prince Naif said while announcing the prize winners. "I told the Crown Prince, we'll hold the prize distribution ceremony in Riyadh for his convenience. But he insisted to hold it in Madinah and promised to attend it," he said. Of the five winners three are women: Dr. Rawiya bint Ahmad Al-Dhahhar, Fatma bint Saleh Al-Jared, both from Saudi Arabia, and Ruqeya bint Taha Al-Alawani of Bahrain. Al-Jared and Dr. Hekmat Ibn Bashir Yasmeen, an Iraqi, shared the prize for Sunnah (Subject: Sunnah and Protection of Human Rights). Dr. Alawani was declared winner for the research she presented on the etiquette of dialogue with opponents in the light of Sunnah. The prizes for Islamic Studies went to Dr. Al-Dhahhar (Shariah objectives for punishments in Islam) and Sheikh Adnan Ibn Muhammad Al-Arour, a Syrian (The method of preaching Islam in the light of contemporary realities). The winners were announced after a meeting of the higher committee for the prize in Riyadh, which was chaired by Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz. The meeting was attended by Prince Saud Ibn Naif, Saudi ambassador in Madrid and deputy chairman of the committee, Prince Muhammad Ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud and Prince Nawaf Ibn Naif. Other participants were Sheikh Muhammad Tantawi, the chief of Al-Azhar, Saleh Al-Al Sheikh, minister of Islamic affairs, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi and Dr. Saaed Al-Harithy, secretary-general of the prize. The Prince Naif Prize was instituted in 2002 to encourage scientific research in the Sunnah of the Prophet and Islamic studies and promote a spirit of competition among Muslim researchers around the world. Meanwhile, Prince Saud Ibn Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Chairman of the Prize's Higher Commission, said : "Cooperation with non-Muslims in the Prophet's Sunnah" ; "Sources of the Prophet's Biography between Narrators and Historians''; " The concept of Revival of the Religion"; and "The Importance, Restrictions and Impact of the Fatwa (religious judgment)" will be the topics of the prize for the next year. On the other hand Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Interior has said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its leadership and people, never tolerate classifying winners of the municipal elections under any name or trend. Prince Naif has rejected moves to classify Saudis into Islamists and non-Islamists. He was referring to media reports that Islamists had won Riyadh Municipal Council elections. "I strongly object to the media for focusing on this issue. We don't accept such classifications, because we are all Muslims and citizens. The elections were held in the right manner. It has been proved that they (the winners) followed the law and did not create any problem," he told reporters. "We reject such names and titles, because we are all members of the Islamic trend and we are all Muslims," Prince Naif said in a press statement issued after his announcement of winners of the Prize for Sunnah (Prophet's teachings) and Contemporary Islamic Studies, which is named after him. Commenting on the results of the municipal elections recently held in Riyadh, Prince Naif, who is also the Chairman of the Higher Commission for the prize added that "our leadership has made it clear that it will never tolerate classification of the winners, because we are all Muslims and we are all citizens." He noted that the municipal elections were held in a satisfactory manner, and that they had not entailed any problems. The elections took place only in Riyadh and its surrounding regions on Feb 10. Voters elected half the members of municipal councils with the other half being appointed by the government. Dr. Ibrahim Ibn Hamad Al-Quayid, a prominent academic who is among seven winners in last Thursday's elections in Riyadh, dismissed charges that certain candidates used religion and formed coalitions violating electoral laws to win. "Even, Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Al Sheikh was dismayed to hear such accusations and told me that no religious authority backed any candidate or approved any list of candidates", Al-Quayid said. Refuting charges that candidates backed by religious sheikhs had emerged victorious, he said "the whole election process was democratic and transparent. All candidates, who won are top professionals and moderates with Islamic orientation." He pointed out that out of seven winners five have doctorates and four of them are Western-educated. "They are, of course, Muslims and they represent the mainstream Muslim society not any extremist ideology," he added. Abdul Aziz Al-Omari, another winner, also refused to be so labelled, saying the "whole Saudi society is Muslim." "Many of the candidates who lost are more Islamists than myself, or any of the winners," said the lecturer of history and real estate developer. "The (political) system in Saudi Arabia is based on Islam. Anyone who claims not to want to implement the Shariah would be breaching order," he added, stressing the Islamic character of Saudi society. The comment brought a protest from another elected candidate, Suleiman Al-Rashoudi, who said there is "nothing called Islamist and non-Islamist in Saudi Arabia." "The whole society is Islamist ... We are all Muslims," he said. "We are all against extremism and terrorism," he added.. Winner Tariq Al-Kasabi said he too refused to be linked to any Islamist trend. "There are no Islamist trends in Saudi Arabia," he said, insisting that as an engineer he had an election platform related only to "the jurisdiction of city councils." Asked about the complaints that a list of seven Islamists was circulated via cell phones and the Internet a day before the poll, Al-Quayid told Arab News: "I personally received some six different lists on my mobile and luckily my name figured in all these lists. But who composed these messages, what is the motive behind it, nobody knows." "It does not mean that some religious scholars have approved the names. Anybody can write the names and circulate through SMS," he said. Asked whether he even unknowingly used religion in his campaign, Al-Quayid, a former assistant secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) said: "I did not use any religious slogan in my campaign and no Islamic scholars were invited by me to address the audience during the campaign period". "Losing candidates are crying foul. Such misleading arguments cannot be justified. These allegations are part of the Western propaganda to belittle the Saudi government's maiden effort of reform, which succeeded in the form of municipal elections", said Al-Quayid, who is also a member of the executive committee of the National Society for Human Rights. The preliminary list of winners was announced at a press conference by Prince Mansoor Ibn Miteb, Chairman of the Election Commission. Prince Mansoor said the winning candidates for the seven seats up for grabs on the Riyadh city council were Abdullah Al-Suweilam, Suleiman Al-Rashoudi, Tareq Al-Kasabi, Abdul-Aziz Al-Omari, Omar Basudan, Ibrahim Quayid and Misfer Al-Bawardi. It emerged that behind-the-scenes "alliances" and "machinations" preceded the balloting for Riyadh region's municipal councils. Prince Mansoor said that every candidate has the right to submit his complaint to the Grievances Committee within five days of the day of announcement of the results. And the committee should make its judgment within five days of receiving a complaint. Participation during the first round of municipal elections, in the capital Riyadh and in surrounding areas, reached 73.6 percent, according to preliminary official figures released. In Riyadh, participation was 65 percent, while the number of voters who turned out in the outskirts reached 82.3 percent, the Elections Commission said. In contrast to that, only slightly more than 140,000 men, or some 30 percent of eligible voters, had actually registered to vote. Prince Mansoor said polling centers were closed on Thursday at 5 p.m., except for a few, which were still processing voting. Sorting of votes started immediately afterward and continued until 7 a.m. "The sorting and counting process was supposed to take 48 hours. However, upon insistence from the local commission, most ballot centers were closed on time and the commission completed their job except for a few who were still processing the voting," he explained. Prince Mansoor said the polling went in an organized and smooth manner. However, "there were small issues in certain centers but all were sorted out on the spot, as was reported by observers and members of the commission." Prince Mansoor said "as per the law and regulations there is a Grievances Committee to whom any voter or candidate can submit his complaint supported with documentary proof. The committee, which is an independent body is comprised of legal experts and judges, and has no relationship whatsoever with the national or local election commission." Prince Mansoor said the elections, supervised by the local commission, was "successful, fair, and transparent by all standards." Bandar Othman Al-Saleh, who lost in the sixth precinct, said he strongly believes that many complaints will be submitted to the Grievances Committee from all districts. On the other hand Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Interior held a session talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdul Qadir Aksu and the accompanying delegation. The talks were attended by Prince Mohammed Ibn Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs and a number of officials. Following the session, Prince Naif and Aksu signed a cooperation agreement in the field of security and the combating of narcotics and psychotropic substances in the two countries. In a press statement after the signing ceremony, Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz said that the agreement was previously agreed upon aiming at combating drugs and psychotropic substances and aiming at full cooperation between the two countries in this field. He added that the two sides signed a comprehensive agreement dealing on top with counter-terrorism. Prince Naif considered that an agreement for Counter-terrorism and Extradition cordially existed but will be ratified following the signing of a joint security agreement. On his part, the Turkish Minister expressed his support for the Kingdom's efforts in fighting terrorism and expressed his appreciation of the Kingdom for hosting the International Counter-terrorism Conference in Riyadh last week. The Turkish Interior Minister Abdul Qadir Aksu and the accompanying delegation arrived in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a landmark security cooperation agreement and pledged to work together to combat terrorism at international level. The agreement on fighting narcotics came after talks between Interior Minister Prince Naif and his Turkish counterpart Abdul Qadir Aksu. "The meeting was very successful," said Prince Naif after signing the accord with Aksu in Riyadh. "Our talks were frank as both sides explained their security situations. We hope to work together to play a role in the international campaign to fight terror," he told the Saudi Press Agency. "We have discussed the possibility of concluding a comprehensive security agreement with its main thrust on terrorism," the prince said. "Hopefully, we'll reach an agreement on this in the morning and will sign it shortly, God willing," Prince Naif told reporters. The Minister said the two countries had already started cooperating in terror fight even before signing an accord. "We have agreed to activate our security channels," he said, adding that the agreement would further strengthen security cooperation. The Turkish Minister said officials from both countries would hold technical talks this morning to set out a framework for anti-terror agreement. Aksu expressed his happiness over visiting the Kingdom and hoped the visit would lead to strengthening bilateral ties. "Saudi Arabia and Turkey are two strong and stable countries in the region, which is beset with a lot of problems. The cooperation between the two countries will benefit not only them but the region as a whole," he said. Referring to his meeting with Prince Naif, Aksu said "we have discussed all issues of mutual concern and reached an agreement on all matters." He said the meeting resulted in signing an agreement on combating drugs and exchanging views on terrorism, which he described as one of the major problems of the world. Aksu extended his country's full support to Saudi Arabia's efforts in combating terrorism. He also appreciated the Saudi government's efforts in organizing the Counterterrorism International Conference in Riyadh. The Riyadh talks were attended by top officials including Prince Muhammad ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, and Dr. Ahmed Al-Salim, Under Secretary at the Interior Ministry. At the airport, he was received by his Saudi counterpart, Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz. Custodian of the Two holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz has approved the extension of a total amount of SR3,831,440 for rebuilding 2345 houses in the Palestinian territories of Gaza strip and West Bank. An agreement in this regard was signed between the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People and the United Nations of Relief and Works of the Palestinian Refugees Agency for the Near East. Dr. Saed Al-Orabi Al-Harthi, Advisor to the Interior Minister and Chairman of the committee signed for the Saudi side. In a statement following the signing ceremony, Dr. Al-Harthi said the first phase includes rebuilding 645 houses in Gaza strip at a cost of SR 1,575,440, while the cost of phase II to rebuild 1700 houses in the West Bank amounts to SR 2,256,000. The Saudi committee for the relief of the Palestinian people achieved 34 developing and humanitarian programs at a cost of SR751,646, 716. Palestine officials expressed their gratitude to Saudi leadership and people for their support. Meanwhile Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Interior Minister and Supervisor General of the Saudi Committee for Assisting the Palestinian People, has received a message from James Morris, the Head of the UN's World Food Program (WFP). Morris expressed appreciation for the generous support extended by the Saudi Committee for Assisting the Palestinian People amounting to $6.3 million to the UN's Food Program. He noted that the support extended by the Committee would enable the Program to extend assistance to members of the Palestinian community in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Morris described the support as "the biggest non-governmental cash donation" to be received by the Program in its history, and as the biggest gift to be extended by an Arab authority to the Program's activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Morris expressed hopes that the Committee would remain as a partner of the Program for providing relief to the Palestinian people, and urged other charitable committees to follow the example of the Saudi Committee in assisting poor people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and a number of other countries. |
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