JEDDAH, 27 June 2004 — Families of victims killed by terrorists who surrender to the authorities could decide if they will be executed, Saudi Ambassador to UK Turki Al-Faisal said in an interview to be aired today.
“The state will drop its claim on these individuals if they give themselves up, but the private claims of the families of those who were killed or who were assaulted or who were wounded will remain for them to decide and not for the state,” Al-Faisal said.
Asked by interviewer Jonathan Dimbleby on Britain’s ITV television if the families of Westerners killed could demand terrorists faced the death penalty, Al-Faisal said: “It is up to them. They will decide.”
Al-Faisal denied statements by Al-Qaeda that police had colluded with the terrorists by giving them cars and uniforms to dupe security authorities and help them kidnap Paul M. Johnson.
“These people are indiscriminate killers ... they want to show that they have support from the police and from other organizations, which is absolutely not true,” he said.
