JEDDAH, 6 January 2003— Three of the Saudis whose passports were destroyed by rioters in Bahrain on the New Year Eve have returned to the Kingdom, according to Nizar Al-Sharif, head of the Saudi citizens’ affairs department at the Saudi Embassy in Manama.
The Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday that the passports and other travel documents of 11 Saudis were torn to pieces by the rioters, who also burned or smashed up Saudi-owned cars and ransacked hotels hosting Saudi and other Gulf nationals.
The embassy has provided return tickets to the remaining eight Saudis who are waiting for the completion of other formalities before they return home.
“On receiving the complaints from these Saudis we in the embassy demanded the Bahraini authorities to provide us with a detailed report on the damages to Saudi property so the embassy can take up the matter with the Bahraini Interior Ministry,” Al-Sharif explained.
The official added that the police have confiscated passports belonging to a number of other Saudis, although no charges have been brought against them. Police have banned these individuals from leaving Bahrain until the completion of their investigations.
The Saudi Interior Ministry has been in communication with the Bahraini authorities over this issue.
Al-Sharif dismissed a report that some Saudis were carrying weapons when the riots took place.
Earlier he ruled out the idea that the riot had been triggered by the defeat of the Bahraini football team by Saudi Arabia at the final of the Arab Cup, played in Kuwait on Dec. 30.
He also denied the suggestion that Saudis were singled out by the rampaging rioters, saying that he found several Saudi cars at the scene of the riot untouched when he visited the place shortly after the rioting.
