Qahtani's brother talks about changes in wanted man's life ABHA/RIYADH – Sa'eed Bin Muhammad Al-Koudari Al-Qahtani, the elder brother of wanted terrorist Naif Al-Qahtani who has been implicated in the 2009 assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, has denied receiving official information that his brother had been killed in Yemen. Speaking to Okaz, Al-Qahtani, who describes the brother he remembers as “kind and quiet”, recalled his last contact with him. “The last telephone call the family received from Naif was two months ago during the war against the infiltrators at the southern border. Every time we receive information saying Naif's dead, we later find out he's alive,” Al-Qahtani said. That last telephone call reportedly signaled a brief change in the wanted man's stance. “He said he was going to return and would only remain in Yemen for a few more days. We talked about his son, who the family named Muhammad,” Al-Qahtani said. “He has never seen his son because he left the Kingdom the year he got married.” Al-Qahtani said Naif “longed to see Muhammad”, and that the brothers' mother then spoke to him to try and persuade him to return. The militant's tone had been different from previous calls, Al-Qahtani said, but toward the end of the conversation he changed. “I don't know if it was because of him himself, or because of pressure from people around him,” he said. Before that, according to Al-Qahtani, his brother had “personally told me that he intended to return home”. “He said that he left the country to carry out jihad and would return soon,” he said. “I tried everything to persuade him to return directly, but he wouldn't back down, saying: ‘I'm on jihad and I'll return soon.'” The family also asked Naif to divorce his wife, but Al-Qahtani said he refused, describing him as “furious” and “warning the family not to interfere in his marriage”. Weak character Al-Qahtani questioned reports indicating that his brother had been involved in planning the August 2009 assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad. “Naif is a weak character and still behaves like a misled adolescent. We were taken aback that they were saying he was involved in planning and executing terrorist acts and at the way the media has portrayed him,” he said. “The image they have given is not the Naif the family knows.” “Anyone who knows Naif's true nature would never believe that he is that person,” Al-Qahtani said. “He possesses no leadership qualities. He is such a friendly and shy person and I can't imagine that he changed overnight. I raised Naif from the age of four when our father died, and he was like a son to me. I never saw any change in his behavior or any inclination toward extremism. He was good, kind and obedient to his mother. He is the youngest of my brothers and the quietest.” According to Al-Qahtani, he arranged his brother's marriage to a relative while he was still at secondary school. “When he finished school three years ago, we were shocked at being told that he had left the Kingdom with one of our relatives to carry out jihad in Iraq,” he said. “I tried to call him, but his mobile was switched off, so I immediately informed the security authorities. When I tried to call him again from the security headquarters, his telephone rang but he didn't answer. The security authorities identified his location as on the Saudi-Yemeni border.” ‘I hoped he was dead' Some time later, the militant called his brother from Yemen. “I tried my best to persuade him to return to the Kingdom, but he shocked me by saying that he had left for jihad and would only return a dead man,” Al-Qahtani said. “He rejected all attempts by my mother and brothers to persuade him to leave that path. After that contact was cut off.” In a second call, the wanted man “appeared to be more extremist than before”. “Several days later we learnt from the media that Naif was killed in an airstrike in Yemen. I hoped that it was true so that we could be relieved of the worry that has affected all of us and particularly the health of our mother,” Al-Qahtani said. The only contact after that call was the conversation two months ago. University hopes Al-Qahtani sought to refute information concerning the extent of his brother's background in extremism. “It's not true he was trained in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said. “Naif left the Kingdom and went straight to Yemen when he was 17 years old.” Al-Qahtani said he tried to get his brother to go to university a few days before he left and that he saw no signs of what was to come. “Before he left, Naif asked me to get him a driving license. That clearly shows he didn't intend to leave the Kingdom, but because he was so young, he must have been led astray at some point. They must have told him to go with them on jihad. He was zealous and he agreed, despite the fact that he only weighed 60 kg and did not know anything about weapons. He left for Yemen with one of our relatives.” The individual who took his brother to Yemen was later detained by security authorities, Al-Qahtani said, while Naif “joined the Al-Qaeda organization and now just carries out its leaders' orders”. “It would be a strange move for Al-Qaeda to make someone like Naif a commander and planner,” he said. “He's not intelligent or shrewd enough to be an asset to any organization.” Distraught family Al-Qahtani said his family was “distraught” over the whole situation, and that his mother had been shielded from reports of her son's death. “She is still hoping for the return of her most loyal son,” he said. “His wife and son are praying for his return to the right path and to the Kingdom. Muhammad asks about his father every day. He has only seen him in photographs and is always asking when he will return.” Sa'eed Al-Qahtani himself is concerned at what his brother may be planning, but sees hope in that the “leadership recognizes that Naif is part of a misguided group of youths”. “I hope my brother dies before he can carry out on any despicable act in our country or, God forbid, targets one of our leadership,” he said. “The leadership has permitted the return of repenters who have fallen victim to destructive ideas that have harmed their families, their religion and their nation.”
