A leading Saudi dissident has been stabbed by unknown attackers at his London home during what he said was an attempt by the Saudi authorities to kidnap him.
Saad al-Faqih, head of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia and critic of the Saudi royal family, was admitted to hospital on Sunday with a leg wound, a Scotland Yard spokesman said. He said he had received recent warnings of a plan to abduct or kill him. Mohammed al-Masari, a friend of Mr al-Faqih, said the attackers sprayed him with something to make him drowsy.
| Slipped him a mickey, huh? And then stabbed him in the leg? You just can't get good assassins these days... |
"A fight ensued and Faqih grabbed a table to defend himself and then the two men knifed him," Mr al-Masari told Reuters.
"As they were going away, they said: 'take that as a message from the Saudi Government'." The injury was not life threatening, police said, confirming that they are investigating an alleged assault.
| The Soddy gummint sends assassins to administer non-life-threatening wounds to the legs of its enemies? Why am I not overawed? |
Mr al-Faqih's group, formed in 1994, has used fax, internet and radio and its new al-Islah TV channel, to circumvent official controls on information and free speech in Saudi Arabia. He advocates peaceful political change.
He also believes that Arabia isn't Islamic enough, and is a big fan of Bin Ladin.
| "Peaceful change in Arabia" = "Please form a line so you can be beheaded in an orderly manner." |
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