JEDDAH, 5 January 2003 — Saudi authorities have denied reports that more than 40 prisoners suspected of links with Al-Qaeda terror network have been on hunger strike since last week, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Reports of the fast were “untrue and baseless”, Okaz newspaper quoted Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed as saying.
“We know who is behind these lies and what their aims are... Nothing of this happened and I have not been notified of any such reports “ the prince added.
Reports carried by foreign news agencies on Friday said some 40 detainees being held for months at the Ruwais prison in Jeddah had launched a hunger strike because they had not been put on trial or released following interrogation.
“Being the governor of Makkah region, I can confirm that I have received no information” about the hunger strike, Prince Abdul Majeed said.
Prison officials have also denied the reports. “There are no strikes or trouble in the prisons and what is being said are lies and fabrications,” an official at the prisons authority said yesterday.
Interior Minister Prince Naif said in November that the authorities were still interrogating more than 100 Saudis from among hundreds rounded up for questioning about their experiences fighting in Afghanistan.
The authorities were questioning the men for possible links to Al-Qaeda, which operated training bases in Afghanistan until the United States launched military action in October 2001.
