JEDDAH, 30 June 2003 — A suspect wanted by the authorities over a “security case” shot and seriously wounded a policeman during a chase and fled, Al-Watan reported yesterday.

The newspaper said the suspect on Saturday fired gunshots at policemen who were attempting to arrest him in Al-Nammas city in the south of the Kingdom, hitting one of them in the chest.

The paper did not say if the suspect, employed by the Ministry of Education, was specifically wanted for involvement in terrorism.

Meanwhile, a top religious figure disclosed yesterday that he mediated the surrender of a leading terror suspect.

Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Ali Abdul Rahman Saeed Al-Faqaasi Al-Ghamdi had set conditions for his surrender, which the Interior Ministry accepted.

Al-Ghamdi, wanted in connection with the May 12 triple suicide bombings in which 35 people died, obtained the release of his Moroccan wife and pledges that he would get a fair trial, be allowed to appoint a lawyer and not be tortured.

“Prince Mohammad ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, immediately considered these as part of Ghamdi’s rights that he personally guarantees,” Hawali told the pan-Arab daily.

The cleric said he received a phone call late Wednesday night from Ghamdi asking him to mediate his surrender.

“He presented a number of demands, mainly the release of his Moroccan wife,” Hawali said.

Al-Ghamdi’s surrender was completed in two hours and took place at dawn on Thursday, the cleric added.

Al-Ghamdi’s wife was arrested at the end of last month along with two other women, another Moroccan and a Syrian, outside Madinah while attempting to flee the city following the arrest of several suspects.

Al-Ghamdi was number two on a list of 19 suspects and believed to be one of two masterminds of the May 12 suicide attacks in Riyadh.

Saudi security forces were still hunting for other suspected terrorists, including the number one on the list, Turki Al-Dandani.

According to Hawali, Al-Ghamdi’s wife was released and handed over to his father Abdulrahman, who visited his son in jail on Saturday.

The father told Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that the Interior Ministry allowed him to meet his son who appeared “relaxed for turning himself in.”

He said that his son “is feeling deep remorse for what happened, but is very relaxed and very happy for surrendering.”

He confirmed that the authorities had freed Al-Ghamdi’s wife.

Prince Naif has said a total of 50 people suspected of links to the suicide bombings had been arrested. Those detained include seven women.

Saudi Arabia has launched a major security clampdown on suspected militants and those who back them.