Biography
Khaled Al Rashed, born on 18 March 1970 in Al Khobar city in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia. Al Rashed is a radical Salafist cleric and a member of the so-called Movement of Reformers. According to a number of Islamist websites, Al Rashed obtained a university degree in forensic sciences in the United States.
In 1992, Al Rashed became a practising Muslim and started working for the Saudi National Oil Company ARAMCO in Dhahran, a city located in the Eastern Province. However, the cleric’s life for Al Rashed began after he moved to Safaniya where he became an Imam for a mosque. Unlike other famous clerics in Saudi Arabia, Al Rashed did not learn Sharia from well known sheikhs. He became famous after years of giving sermons and lectures in various regions.
In 2006, Khaled was arrested at Makkah while he was doing religious peregrination with his wife. This happened after he recorded an emotional lecture in which he condemned the Danish cartoons on Prophet Muhammed and called for the Prophet’s honour to be defended.
Khaled, who is currently in prison, has also called Arab countries to wage war on the West and constantly incited Muslims to join the Jihad in Iraq. Also, he has reportedly called on Allah to “eliminate” non-Muslims, according to The Times.
Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:
September 2012: Khaled Al Rashed calls for Jihad against “the slaves of the cross”.
March 2012: Khaled Al Rashed talks about the necessity to fight those who caricaruated the Prophet Muhammed.