WASHINGTON, 13 May 2003 — A Saudi diplomat expelled from the United States last week was thrown out because he did not qualify for a diplomatic visa and not because he was suspected of terrorist links, a senior US official said yesterday.
“There are people from some countries who come in on these diplomatic visas and really don’t qualify,” the official said, referring to the expulsion of Fahad Al-Thumairy, who had held a diplomatic post in the Saudi Consulate’s Islamic and Cultural Affairs Section in Los Angeles.
When asked if Thumairy’s Thursday expulsion was related to terrorism, as the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity “that is not the case.”
“It had run its course,” the official said of Thumairy’s diplomatic visa, suggesting that the travel document had been revoked because Washington did not believe the man was a bona fide diplomat.
“How many third secretaries do you need?” the official asked rhetorically.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Thumairy was detained at Los Angeles international airport on Tuesday after arriving on a flight from Frankfurt and was expelled two days later on suspicion of links to terrorist groups.
Thumairy, 31, told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that immigration officials at the airport “told me that the issue was linked only to the revoking of my visa and raised no other demands or suspicions.”
The US State Department confirmed that a Saudi “individual” had been expelled and said the Saudi Embassy in Washington had been informed of the decisions.
