MAKKAH — Makkah police have referred a man accused of murdering two people in the city's Al-Ghassalah neighborhood mosque to psychologists to check his mental condition. Okaz/Saudi Gazette sources said the suspect was mumbling unclear sentences during preliminary questioning. He did, however, tell investigators he killed one of his victims because he was smoking outside the mosque, police said. Neighborhood residents cut the electric power from the mosque speaker system as the accused was repeating the call for Asr prayers, witnesses said. Sources said a few weeks ago the suspect was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was admitted at Taneem Mental Hospital for a few days, prescribed medication and then discharged. The Makkah Mosques and Endowments Department decided to close the mosque until investigations are completed. One of the victims, a Pakistani national, worked in the Kingdom for 30 years as a builder. He was working in a building near the mosque. He was taking a rest from work and lit a cigarette when the suspect allegedly attacked him and smashed his head with a brick. The accused then went to his house, brought a gun and fired several times at the victim, police said. Eyewitnesses said the accused repeatedly said the victim was a smoker and immoral. The suspect then entered the mosque and hit the muezzin (the man calling for prayers) with a piece of wood, they said. The accused was shouting that he was carrying out a jihad before he beat the muezzin to death, it was alleged. By that time police had arrived and arrested the man. Local residents said the suspect was a university graduate and worked in a government school as a messenger. The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) will investigate with Makkah Health Affairs why the hospital discharged the man before he allegedly committed the murders. Despite being diagnosed as mentally ill, he was discharged after spending only 10 days in the mental hospital, the society said. Makkah NSHR director Sulaiman Al-Zaydi said if the hospital does not provide valid reasons for releasing the man, it would be held partially accountable for the murders. He should have had more treatment as he represented a potential hazard to himself and to those around him, he said. He called on the health directorate to reconsider how it treats mentally ill patients. The families of patients should be educated on how to treat sick relatives, he said.
