A professor at the Laureate College of Excellence, Jeddah, was dismissed for being disrespectful towards Islam.
According to a report in Saudi Gazette, students from the college took the matter to the press when their repeated complaints to the college administration against the professor went in vain.
The report said that the unidentified professor, who was from a "Western country" had been insulting Islam and the students by using offensive and racist language while teaching. He called the pilgrimage rituals of Muslims "stupid."
But the students were helpless against the college administration.
"There is no one in the administration that is an Arab or Muslim and whenever we complained they would kick us out or ignore us", one of the students was quoted by Saudi Gazette as saying.
"We decided to take this to the press because no one listened to us and we do not accept what was said about Islam", the student added.
When the matter was brought to the notice of Ali Al-Ghafees, head of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, he formed a special committee to look into it. The committee found the allegations against the professor to be true and dismissed him.
"The corporation terminated the professor's contract immediately as he violated the Ministry of Labor's charter that outlines the importance of good conduct and respect toward Islam and violated the Laureate College of Excellence's policy of religious tolerance," said Al-Otaibi, official spokesman for the Corporation.
"All international institutes in the Kingdom are fully aware of the importance of respecting Islam and the severity of insulting the religion and the Saudi people in any way", he added.
