Saudi Arabia buries King Fahd in humble ceremony

Saudi Arabia buries King Fahd in humble ceremony

Agencies, Riyadh, Jakarta

Muslim world leaders joined ordinary Saudis on Tuesday to bid
farewell to King Fahd at an austere funeral ceremony for the man
who ruled the oil powerhouse for more than two decades.

In keeping with the strict Muslim traditions of this Gulf Arab
state, Fahd was buried in an unmarked grave at the Al-Od public
cemetery in Riyadh after brief prayers at the Imam Turki bin
Abdullah mosque

His body, draped in a brown robe, was carried into the mosque
on a wooden stretcher on the shoulders of members of the ruling
al-Saud family.

Mourners were led by Fahd's half-brother and successor King
Abdullah, de facto ruler for a decade, and powerful Defense
Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the new crown prince of the
ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

The funeral was the final act in a 23-year reign in which Fahd
steered the oil-rich kingdom through turbulent decades rocked by
wars and Islamist violence but in the last years was forced by
ill health to hand over most powers to Abdullah.

The world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, sent a
high level government delegation led by Indonesian Vice President
Jusuf Kalla (not Alwi Shihab as earlier reported) to Riyadh on
Tuesday to attend the funeral of King Fahd.

The delegation, including Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare Alwi Shihab, Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh
Basyuni and a number of Muslim leaders, is expected to stay in
Saudi until Thursday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent the delegation "to pay
Indonesia's last respects" to the Saudi king, who led the world's
leading oil-producing country since 1982.

The President praised King Fahd for being "a gentle leader, a
great statesman who worked hard to deliver progress, prosperity
and justice to his people and a force for peace in the region",
presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told the Post on
Tuesday.

Emphasizing the close ties Fahd forged with the Western world,
French President Jacques Chirac and British heir to the throne
Prince Charles were due in Riyadh to pay their last respects.
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito was also to attend.

UN chief Kofi Annan paid tribute to a veteran statesman who
had attended the world body's inaugural meeting in 1945, while
U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned King Abdullah and
offered his congratulations.

Arab leaders, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
Jordanian King Abdullah II and a host of other leaders from the
Muslim world attended the funeral of a man they have hailed as a
great Arab leader.

The simple and austere funeral ceremony was held under tight
security at the mosque in the center of the capital.

"Security forces will enforce tight measures along the routes
which the convoys of dignitaries will take and at the location of
the funeral ceremony," Gen. Mansur al-Turki told AFP.

The late monarch, who carried the title of "custodian of the
two holy mosques" in Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites, was
laid to rest in line with traditions stemming from the strict
Wahhabi doctrine of Islamic law which is predominant in Saudi
Arabia.

Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf said "King Fahd
was a great leader of the Muslim world... He played an active
role in the emancipation and betterment of the Muslim" nation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised Fahd for supporting the
"jihad" (holy war) against his country's 1979-1989 Soviet
occupation.