ZAMBOANGA CITY, 25 January 2005 — Philippine police yesterday cleared a Saudi national, who was earlier arrested in Zamboanga City on suspicion of being a terrorist, officials said.

Airport police and immigration agents arrested Mohammad Abdullah Sughayer at the Zamboanga City International Airport when he arrived from Manila on Jan. 17, after his name was included in the government’s watch list, said Supt. Ibar Padao, chief of the Aviation Security Group.

Police intelligence chief Ismael Rafanan said the Saudi was not a member of the Al-Qaeda terror network. “He is not a member of the Al-Qaeda and he is not a terrorist,” Rafanan told reporters in Manila. He said the Saudi was only invited for questioning a week after agents interrogated him on suspicion that he was an Al-Qaeda operative.

Sughayer, who claimed to be a businessman, was initially interrogated in Zamboanga City, but flown back to Manila on Jan. 18 where he was further investigated.

A local newspaper Sunstar Zamboanga yesterday ran a story about Sughayer and linked him to the Al-Qaeda network.

It said the man, described in the report as a wealthy businessman, traveled to Zamboanga to link up or help finance the terror activities of a local militant group Abu Sayyaf, tagged by authorities as behind the series of bombings, killings and kidnappings in southern Philippines.

It quoted unnamed security sources as saying that Sughayer was an Abu Sayyaf financier. Other reports said he was the finance officer of the Al-Qaeda cells in Southeast Asia.

He allegedly put up several non-governmental organizations in the Philippines, which authorities said are being used to channel funds to terrorists in the south.

Authorities have arrested dozens of Arabs and Middle Eastern-looking foreigners in southern Philippines since the 9/11 attacks in the US on suspicion they were terrorists. Many of those arrested turned out to be innocent and were either tourists or traders and some lived and had Filipino wives, but were deported and blacklisted by the Philippine government.

Last year, immigration and military agents in the southern Cotabato City detained four Arabic teachers from Turkey on suspicion that they were members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network. They were later freed after security officials said the four were apparently arrested by mistake.

Saudis across the Kingdom condemned the highhanded manner in which they were being treated in Philippines. They recalled a similar incident involving Saudi national Capt. Mohammed Saeed Bukhari, a former Saudi Arabian Airlines pilot, over a year ago. Bukhari went through a similar situation in Philippines when he was arrested on suspicion of being linked to extremism before he was cleared and his name was taken off the list of suspects.

“If things continue like this the Philippines will be the loser, as Saudi businessmen and tourists in particular will avoid visiting that country,” Muhammad Al-Saggaf, a leading Saudi trader said. “Such treatment of Saudis will also have its adverse impact on bilateral relationship, especially business, trade and tourism,” said Ahmed Albar, another Saudi businessman prominent in the pharmaceutical trade.

— With input from K.S. Ramkumar in Jeddah