RIYADH, 24 March — The Iraqi government is considering the extradition of two Saudi security officers who hijacked a Saudi passenger plane to Baghdad in October 2000, a newspaper reported here yesterday.
Al-Yaum daily quoted unspecified sources as saying the two officers were “living in Iraq under house arrest, suffering extreme depression.”
The two men hijacked a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Jeddah to London. Its passengers were quickly released unharmed at Baghdad’s Saddam International Airport and the hijackers taken into custody and questioned by Iraqi authorities.
The daily said Baghdad had not responded to a Saudi request to extradite the hijackers, but did not say what prompted the Iraqi authorities to reconsider such a move.
Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, said in December 2000 that Riyadh had given up its demand for the extradition of the two hijackers, Faisal Naji Al-Balawi and Ayesh Ali Al-Fridi, who were granted political asylum in Iraq.
The Interior Ministry had earlier repeatedly demanded the two men be handed over for trial in the Kingdom. (AN)
Interior Minister Prince Naif had said his country would contact Interpol over its extradition request, as Riyadh and Baghdad have not had diplomatic relations since the 1991 Gulf War.
