RIYADH, 29 February 2004 — A Shoura Council delegation heads for Bern on March 4, but it is not clear whether its discussions with Swiss authorities will include eight non-Swiss nationals who are being detained in Switzerland for alleged complicity in the Riyadh bombings.

The men are held on suspicion of providing logistical support to an organization for terror attacks in the Saudi capital.

Twenty-six people including one Swiss citizen and nine attackers were killed in the Riyadh bombings last May.

In the course of inquiries related to terrorism — and in particular the Riyadh attacks — an operation by the Swiss federal police took place early last month in five cantons (or regions), according to a statement released by Switzerland’s public prosecutor.

The Swiss authorities are declining to provide any further details. “We are at the beginning of the investigation,” Andrea Sadecky, a spokeswoman from the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office, said in a statement. But she added it “would not be right to say all of these people detained in Switzerland had the same religious or ethnic background.” It is also not clear how many of them are Saudis or Arabs.

Swiss Ambassador Dominik M. Alder said the delegation consisting of senior members of the Shoura Council will visit Switzerland to boost links between the two countries, particularly in parliamentary affairs.

Switzerland is the seat of many UN and international organizations besides being one of the world’s oldest parliamentary democracies.

Alder would only say the Shoura members will talk with Swiss officials “on a range of issues”.

Shoura members could not comment on the arrests. “I am aware of the detention of the suspects, but I can’t say for sure whether this will be taken up for discussion on any level between the two sides in the near future,” Shoura member Osama Kurdi told Arab News.

The Swiss legal system is complex and often slow, and the authorities say it may be months before official charges are brought.

The Swiss authorities have been keen to work with the US and the Arab countries since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. One key area of investigation has been whether Switzerland’s banking systems could have been used in the funding of terror groups. Eighty-two Swiss bank accounts containing $28 million have been frozen, according to an earlier report.