RIYADH: As the world awoke to news of the Christchurch terrorist attack on Friday morning, stories of the victims trickled in on social media. One of the 49 murdered and 39 seriously injured was 19-year-old Saudi citizen Aseel Al-Ansari, who left his home in Makkah 12 days ago to study English at one of New Zealand’s top institutes.
“New Zealand, country of peace and calm, one that I felt my son would strive in,” Aseel’s father, Sulaiman Khairat Al-Ansari, told Arab News.
Sulaiman, who works for the Infection Control Department at the Saudi Health Ministry, received news of his son’s injury from the Saudi Embassy. Within an hour, he was able to speak to his son from his hospital bed.
“I’m thankful to the Saudi Embassy, I got to speak to my son so fast,” he said.
The second of three children, Aseel headed to New Zealand knowing full well the potential of learning in a foreign country. “After researching several potential countries for a top education, we decided New Zealand was the best. We had friends there and they helped him. It was considered one of the safest, it was a calm and quiet country, and we felt good about sending him,” Sulaiman added.
Upon hearing the news from the embassy in Auckland, he recalled a conversation with his son when he first arrived in Christchurch, where, he said, he had struggled to find a mosque on the first Friday he was there. Sulaiman encouraged him to ask people at the institute, and that was how he had found Al-Noor Mosque.
The attack targeted two mosques, and the shooter posted an 87-page “manifesto” online, promoting anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas.
Social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been scrambling to remove a 17-minute video of the attack, live-streamed online by the attacker.
“I saw my son, in a video, running in the streets with the gunman shooting after him. I couldn’t believe my eyes and my heart dropped,” said Sulaiman.
Aseel, shot through the knee, had surgery on Saturday morning, and could be discharged by Sunday.
Sulaiman is thankful for the kindness of the family that sheltered Aseel from the attack outside. “They protected him. They took him to the hospital to get treatment,” he said. “They saved my son. This is all fate, and his mother and I will help him get through this.
“We’re heading down to see him and we thank the efforts of the Saudi Foreign Ministry and the Saudi Embassy in Auckland for the continuous updates on Aseel’s condition. His sisters and the family are worried, but he is well cared for and, by Allah’s grace and mercy, my son will be fine.”
