Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz was laid to rest at a solemn ceremony here, Tuesday. His funeral prayers at Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Mosque after the afternoon prayers were attended by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; Prince Misha'l Bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Allegiance Commission; Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior; Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Emir of Riyadh region; other senior princes and officials. The funeral prayers were led by Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Aal-Al-Sheikh, Grand Mufti of the Kingdom. Crown Prince Sultan's body, swathed in a brown cloth, was carried through the throng of mourners on a bier amid flashes of cameras in the sprawling mosque for funeral prayers before burial. Funeral prayers in absentia were also held in mosques across the Kingdom. The Crown Prince died on Saturday and his mortal remains were brought to Riyadh, Monday. King Abdullah was chief mourner at the sprawling mosque, where hundreds of men gathered behind the kneeling figure of the Grand Mufti as he led prayers. The Monarch, who left hospital on Saturday night after a back operation last week, remained seated for the prayers and was wearing a surgical mask over his face. Among the more than 100 foreign dignitaries who attended the funeral and offered condolences were: Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait; Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar; Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain; King Abdullah of Jordan; Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; Sheikh Gen. Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi; Ismael Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti; Abdullah Wade, President of Senegal; Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, President of Sudan; Lt. Gen. Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi, Vice President of Yemen; Farouq Al-Shara, Vice President of Syria; Najib Miqati, Prime Minister of Lebanon; Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, military ruler of Egypt; Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan; Jeremiah Mateparae, Governor-General of New Zealand; Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine, President of Comoros; Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan; Al-Muhtadee Billah, Crown Prince of Brunei; Najib Razaq, Prime Minister of Malaysia; Bulent Arinc, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey; Jejomar Cabauatan Binay Jr., Vice President of the Philippines; and Ali Akbar Salehi, Foreign Minister of Iran. Foreign ministers of several Mideast countries and members of European and Gulf royal families were also in attendance. Rifaat Al-Assad, uncle of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and Prince Rashid Bin Al-Hassan, brother of the King of Morocco, were also in the capital to offer condolences. Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, is expected to arrive here sometime next week to personally offer condolences to the Royal Family. Meanwhile, condolences on the death of Crown Prince Sultan are pouring in from across the world. Former US President George H. W. Bush offered his condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Royal Family and the Saudi people, noting that he was honored to be personally acquainted with the Crown Prince. “Prince Sultan was a historic personality known for his wisdom and vision, as well as for his contributions to the nation,” Kuwaiti Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said in a statement. He said Prince Sultan was always keen on preserving the security and stability of the Arab and Islamic nations. Prince Sultan's death, said Sheikh Sabah, was not only a loss for Saudi Arabia but “for Kuwait which lost a beloved friend of the Kuwaiti people.”
