PRESS STATEMENT

Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

London, United Kingdom

22 Aug. 14

SAUDI ARABIA SEEKS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ISLAMIC STATE (IS) TERRORISTS

The following may be attributed to a spokesperson from the Royal Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:

Despite numerous statements from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the contrary, there continue to be claims in parts of the Western media that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in some way supports or is connected to the terrorist organisation, known as the Islamic State (IS).  This is a malicious falsehood and should not be repeated.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia wants the defeat and destruction of the Islamic State (IS) and any other terrorist networks. Terrorist networks are as abhorrent to the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as they are to the government and peoples of the rest of the world. That is why we urge the international community to do all in its power to join together to secure an end to the IS threat.

The current terrorist threat facing the Kingdom and all Western civilisations has been described as Wahhabism – which is then further described as extremist and radical and accused of inspiring movements from the Taliban in Afghanistan to the Al-Qaida network and now the Islamic State.

There have been suggestions that IS followers are members of some sort of Wahhabi absolutist sect. Indeed, certain UK media outlets often refer to Muslims within Saudi Arabia as Wahhabists. The unsubstantiated use of this invented connotation must end because it is untrue.  Wahhabism is not a sect of Islam. Muhammad Abdul Wahhab was a scholar and jurist of the 18th century who insisted on the adherence to Qur’anic values and the teachings of the word of God as revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) to Muslims in his province of Najd. 

Our aim is to live in peace, security, and harmony that our Islamic faith teaches. Terrorism belongs to no country. It has no religion, nationality or identity beyond a belief in the power of death and destruction to secure certain political ends. The sole purpose of Islamic State’s extremist ideology and politically motivated reign of terror is to kill the innocent in the cause of their own power lust.  

In 2003, prior to the war in Iraq, the Saudi Foreign Minister, HRH Prince Saud al Faisal, warned, “If change of regime comes with the destruction of Iraq, then you are solving one problem and creating five more problems.”

More recently, in 2013, during the 68th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, HRH Prince Saud al Faisal stated, “We have repeatedly emphasised that the best way to cut the road before the forces of extremism on the future of Syria is to provide maximum support to the forces of moderation.” It is this lack of international involvement that has paved the way for terrorist affiliated movements to breed within Syria, and now Iraq.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is and will continue to do everything in our power to wipe out the evil of terrorism:

•Under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, and following an international counter-terrorism conference in 2005, the UN counter-terrorism centre was established with financial support of $200million from our government.

•Similarly, the Kingdom founded the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue to enable, empower and encourage dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures around the world.

•The Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, recently stated that terrorist networks are “enemy number one of Islam", adding that IS "is in no way part of the [Islamic] faith."

•In February this year a royal decree in the Kingdom outlawed participation of citizens in hostilities outside the Kingdom and membership of radical religious and intellectual groups with punishments ranging from up to 3-30 years imprisonment.

•Firm action is taken immediately against any imam found to hold extremists views or to be inciting violence.

•Laws are firmly in place to prevent funding of these groups. All donations are scrutinised by international monetary agencies and have been for 14 years. Accounts of any individual or organisation within Saudi found to be financing extremist groups are frozen.

 We urge, yet again, the international community to work collectively to put an end to this terrorist scourge once and for all.

ENDS