By Ibrahim Alawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The father of a Saudi scholarship student who was found murdered in his apartment in Saint Diego, US, suspects that some of his colleagues may be behind the crime.

“My son Bander was strangled by a vacuum cleaner wire. This was evident when his body was washed and shrouded,” said Amir Al-Barqi.

The bereaved father expects the surveillance cameras and the fingerprints to show what really happened and reveal the identity of the murderer.

He said his son was killed because he did not want to interact with his colleagues who were not committed to their studies.

“My son was in his final year of his preparatory English language program. He was doing well in his studies and his teachers were pleased with him,” he said.

Barqi said during his last telephone talk, his son expressed fears that he might be murdered and wanted to come back to the Kingdom.

He said his son repeatedly said, “They would kill me... they would kill me” .

The father said he booked a flight for his son to return to the Kingdom but destiny was faster.

“Instead of him visiting us, I received the dead body of my son who was buried in his town of Bariq in the Asir region,” he said amid tears.

Barqi vowed to follow up the case of his son but said the US authorities have not so far informed him about the results of the investigations and did not enable him to see the forensic report about the cause of his death.

The father, however, said the US authorities promised to release official statements about the death of his son within two weeks.