JEDDAH, 11 November — About 300 Saudi students have cut short their university studies in the United States and returned home, an official at the Saudi Embassy in Washington said in remarks published yesterday.
Some 5,500 Saudi students — 3,500 of them on government scholarships — had been studying at US universities before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, deputy head of the Saudi embassy’s information center, Mahmoud Qattan, told Al-Watan daily.
Most faced visa and immigration problems, Qattan said, playing down the effect of harassment and maltreatment of Saudis since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Hundreds of Saudis have returned from the United States and complained of widespread abuse, harassment and maltreatment mainly by government agencies.
An undisclosed number of Saudi nationals have been taken for questioning over the attacks in New York and Washington, and several of them remain in police custody.
Recent reports indicate that scores of Saudi students in the US have moved to the American University of Beirut and other Lebanese institutions after Sept. 11.
Several of the 19 presumed hijackers in the unprecedented jetliner bombings, which killed almost 5,000 people, allegedly carried Egyptian or Saudi passports.
