Algerian teen committed suicide: Saudi police

An Algerian teen age girl found dead in Makkah early this month was not murdered as she jumped from the roof of a hotel where she was residing with her Muslim French father, a Saudi newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The death of Sara, 15, triggered riots by Algerian pilgrims, who claimed she had been raped and murdered while accompanying her father during pilgrimage.

“An authoritative source at the general prosecutor’s office confirmed that Sara died after she jumped off the hotel roof as she tried to escape following a date with an Arab hotel worker,” Aleqtisadiah Arabic language daily said.’

It quoted the source as saying the prosecutor has charged the Arab expatriate, believed to be Yemeni, with seducing and dating a teen ager.

“The worker is under arrest and the prosecutor is demanding maximum punishment of him,” the paper said.

Sara, the adopted daughter of Abu Mudeen Al Khateeb, a French of Algerian origin, was buried in Makkah at the request of her father.