JEDDAH, 11 September 2003 — The lawyers working for the release of some 120 Saudi prisoners in Guantanamo have said they are optimistic that their mission will be successful.
Kateb Fahd Al-Shammary, a member of the team, said the lawyers were in continuing talks with US officials to secure the release of all prisoners.
Al-Shammary said the Saudi prisoners were being held indefinitely without trial in violation of international law. “It’s a dangerous precedent,” he added. He commended the Saudi government’s efforts on behalf of the prisoners. A delegation of Saudi officials from the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs had visited Guantanamo to inspect the conditions of the prisoners.
More than 560 suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters, nationals of over 30 countries, are being held at the Guantanamo base, where they were transferred from Afghanistan and Pakistan on suspicion of links with terrorist organizations.
Interior Minister Prince Naif urged Washington to repatriate the Saudi prisoners for trial in the Kingdom in accordance with Shariah law.
Al-Shammary said the Saudis were living in harsh conditions in their Guantanamo cells. “They include several youngsters and innocent people,” he added.
Some of them had gone to Afghanistan to participate in relief work but were arrested there on charges of links with terrorism, he said. “We have the qualifications to defend the Saudi prisoners,” he said of the team, which includes a number of Saudi experts in international law.
The Kingdom’s judicial system was independent, he said, and judgments were made in accordance with the laws of God.
“The Kingdom, which is itself a victim of terrorism and extremism, has declared war on both these phenomena as they are alien to our country,” he said.
The team, headed by Ahmed Mazhar, several times met with officials in America and other countries as well as human rights organizations to mobilize support for the release of the Saudi prisoners and to highlight what it calls the “inhuman treatment” of the prisoners.
The team includes Dr. Mohammed ibn Omar Al-Madani Al-Idrisi, Saleh ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Salim and Khaled Fahd Al-Salim in addition to Al-Shammary.
“No existing laws or charters allow imprisonment of the inmates at Guantanamo indefinitely without trial,” Mazhar told Arab News. Mazhar urged the US government and humanitarian agencies to cooperate with the team’s efforts. “Being an advocate of human rights, we hope, the US government will consider our request favorably,” he added.
The team recently visited the five Saudis already released by US authorities. “We found that they enjoyed high morale and were happy to be back home,” Al-Shammary said. The released prisoners said they had suffered greatly in the first months of their imprisonment in Afghanistan and “the treatment we received in Guantanamo was very harsh,” he quoted them as saying.
However, he pointed out that there was considerable improvement in the treatment of the prisoners after the Saudi delegation visited them in Cuba.
