Abdul Rahman ( ar, عبد الرحمن) was the Aviation and Tourism minister of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

until his death on February 14, 2002. He was murdered in what appeared to be a mob attack on his plane at

Kabul International Airport , nativename-r = , image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg , caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012 , IATA = KBL , ICAO = OAKB , ...

by pilgrims angry that they had been unable to travel to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. Witnesses and officials said pilgrims beat the minister to death and tossed his body to the tarmac. However, President

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

accused six senior government officials of the murder, saying that they were motivated by a long-standing feud. Three were arrested and the others were being sought in Saudi Arabia. Karzai said five ministers, including the head of the intelligence ministry, General Abdullah Tawhedi; the technical deputy of the Ministry of Defense, General Qalander Big, and a Supreme Court justice, Haji Halim and 15 other suspects have been linked to the assassination. His widow is

Frozan Fana Frozan Fana (born 1969) was a candidate in the 2009 Afghan presidential election. Her running mate was Mohammad Nasim Darmand. She had never held political office before. However, she is the widow of Abdul Rahman (Afghan minister), Abdul ...

, a medical doctor. She was a candidate in the

2009 Afghan presidential election Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 20 August 2009. The election resulted in victory for incumbent Hamid Karzai, who won 49.67% of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah finished second with 30.59% of the vote. The e ...

References

1953 births 2002 deaths Assassinated Afghan politicians Aviation ministers of Afghanistan Tourism ministers of Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-politician-stub