Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has died

King Abdullah died early Friday of complications from pneumonia and has been succeeded by his brother Salman, the Saudi Arabian royal household said in a statement.

"His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 a.m. this morning," the statement said.

The monarch was hospitalised Dec 31 for medical tests.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was born in 1924 and became king in August 2005 following the death of his brother King Fahd.

Abdullah underwent back operations in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Born in 1935, Salman became Saudi crown prince in June 2012 and served under Abdullah as deputy prime minister and defence minister.

One of Salman's first acts as king was to proclaim his brother Muqrin as crown prince.

Abdullah signed a decree last March designating Muqrin as second-in-line to the throne.

Abdullah, Salman and Muqrin are sons of the Saudi kingdom's founding monarch, Abdulaziz, more commonly known as Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.

Hindu statesman Zed offers condolences on King Abdullah’s death

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has offered condolences on the death of King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s head of the state, who died on January 23 in a Riyadh hospital.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that they were saddened by the passing of King Abdullah, about 90.

Rajan Zed pointed out that King Abdullah was slowly but steadily introducing long awaited reforms in the highly conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During his regime,  women were appointed to previously all-male and influential Shura Council; Saudi Arabia announced giving right to women to vote and run in future municipal elections, and allowed its women to compete in the Olympics for the first time; and a woman became editor-in-chief of a Saudi Arabia daily newspaper for the first time. Though largely symbolic measures, these were still quite significant by Saudi Arabia standards, Zed added.

Zed hoped that the new king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 79, would continue on Abdullah’s reform path as relaxing restrictions on women and speech would further strengthen Saudi Arabia.