RIYADH, 14 June — Deputy Minister of Interior Prince Ahmad has said that those convicted for the murder of 19 US Air Force men in a bomb blast in the eastern city of Khobar in 1996 are all Saudis, the official SPA news agency reported yesterday.
“They do not include non-Saudi nationals. I don’t remember the exact number,” Prince Ahmad said in response to a question about their nationalities.
The verdicts will go to the higher court for scrutiny, and if OK’d will be passed to the Supreme Judicial Council, Prince Ahmad said.
Prince Ahmad said on June 1 that all men involved in the attack were arrested “except two or three people who are the wanted masterminds.” He added that the men had been sentenced by a Shariah court.
The verdicts “will be announced at the appropriate time,” the prince had said, without identifying the convicts, their nationality or number.
On June 25, 1996, 19 members of the US Air Force were killed when a bomb placed in a lorry blew up outside a residential complex inhabited by US troops from the Dhahran air base near Alkhobar. Almost 500 people were wounded.
About the Saudis detained at a US military base in Cuba, Prince Ahmad said the United States has yet to grant Kingdom direct access to around 100 Saudi nationals held there for suspected links to terrorism.
“Regrettably, we have not yet been able to send representatives through the United States or to find out first hand about their (the prisoners) conditions,” the SPA quoted Prince Ahmad as saying.
The prince said he met representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) two weeks ago in the Kingdom to inquire about Saudi nationals among more than 400 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay base.
The prisoners were captured during the US-led war against Al-Qaeda group and the Taleban regime in Afghanistan.
The prince said some of the Saudi inmates had exchanged letters with their relatives through the ICRC.
The Kingdom said in January there were around 100 Saudi men held at the base and it wanted all Saudi suspects handed over to Riyadh when US authorities had “finished with them”.
About the detention of three Saudi nationals in Morocco, Prince Ahmad was quoted by daily Okaz as saying: “There are contacts and consultations with the brothers in Morocco. We hope to see the results very soon.” Asked if the men would be sent to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the prince said: “The matter is left to the brothers in Morocco, but personally, I don’t expect they will be sent there.”
