Unpaid Saudi imam locks worshippers out

Al-Yaum newspaper reported Sunday that the imam, a Sudanese national, had been told a philanthropist would pay for his services as spiritual leader of the small mosque in Najd region. But the benefactor withdrew the funding after local religious authorities failed to confirmed the cleric as the official imam.

The worshippers, angry at being prevented from Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, have failed to convince the imam to re-open the mosque.