The Jouf Literary Club was set on fire Sunday two hours after its chairman received an SMS death threat, in what appears to be a criminal act. The Civil Defense cordoned off the area and blocked entry to allow authorities to investigate. The fire tore through offices, the patio and the cultural tent. The allegedly criminal act came after the literary club announced the names of men of letters taking part in the book fair in Riyadh. This is an event where extremists in the Kingdom have always objected to and have tried to disrupt its activities in the past. “This is a rare incident and it won't happen again,” said Abdul Aziz Khoja, the Minister of Culture and Information. The minister declined to comment on the fire until investigations have been completed. “The case is now with the security authorities to gather more evidence on the fire,” he said. When asked about the lack of security at the club, Khoja said: “We live in a safe country and the government is careful about establishing security everywhere and fighting all attempts to destabilize the courts and its security.” Khoja placed his confidence in security authorities to protect the country and all its cultural buildings and activities. “What happened is no more than an individual act and we are proud of our security men,” he added. At 11:41 A.M. on Sunday, Ibrahim Al-Humaid, chairman of the club received a death threat on his cell phone stating: “Do you know that your murder is halal (Islamic term for legal). Within a few hours you'll be killed like your neighbor Hmoud and his fellows.” The message was referring to the late Hamoud Al-Suailem, the officer at the Jouf Police Department who was assassinated by terrorists in 2003. Other police officers were also shot dead during the incident. This was the second fire at the club in less than a year. Last year a fire broke out at the cultural tent before a poetry soiree for Saudi female poet Halimah Madhafer. Throughout 2009, many evening events at the club were cancelled without prior notice or any reasons provided. “The club has not held any provocative event that would move this group to act,” Al-Humaid said. “Two hours after the message, I was surprised to hear of the fire engulfing the club,” he added. The criminals waited until all employees had left at 1:30 P.M. to make a forced entry and set the offices and the lecture hall on fire, he said. The lecture hall had just been renovated to host upcoming literary events. “This was the first threat since last year's fire,” Al-Suailem said, defending the reason for not having security guards at the club. “Definitely it is a criminal act,” he said. Cpt. Attallah Al-Qaren, spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Jouf region said that the investigations are still under way to determine whether the fire was a criminal act. Lt. Col. Dahman Al-Dara'an, spokesman for the Jouf Police Department said that the police are still collecting evidence from the site to “help find the perpetrators”.
