Frenchman’s daughter found dead in Makkah

A 14-year-old adopted daughter of a Muslim French man performing pilgrimage in Makkah has been found dead, triggering brief riots by relatives and friends, the Saudi Arabic language daily 'Alriyadh' said on Thursday.

Abu Mudeen Al Khateeb, a French of Algerian origin, said he suspected his adopted daughter, Sara, had been raped and murdered by unknown assailants in Makkah, Islam’s holiest shrine, the paper reported.

The girl’s body was found on Tuesday night on top of a small hotel just next to the hotel where Khateeb and his daughter were staying, it said.

“I have full faith in the capability of the Saudi security to unravel this murder case,” he told the paper, following reports of brief riots by a group of Algerian pilgrims in the holy city in protest at the girl’s death.

The paper said the rioters at Alghazza neighourhood in Makkah were demanding punishment of “expatriate workers” at that hotel for murdering the girl. It quoted Makkah police commander Brigadier Ibrahim Al Hamzi that a police force was sent to that neighbourhood and dispersed the protesters “peacefully".

“We did not use force to end the protest. We talked to them and assured them that we are investigating the case,” he said.

Khateeb said his daughter, who lives in France, told him she was going to the nearby hotel to have dinner with an old woman.

“She was late...so I went to the old woman and asked her about my daughter but she said that she did not come....later, one of my friends came and told me that my daughter has been found dead on top of that hotel.”

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