JEDDAH, 19 March 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday denied media reports that Egypt had mediated between the Kingdom and Libya to defuse a row over an assassination plot targeting Crown Prince Abdullah.
“Reports of mediation between Saudi Arabia and Libya, and that this mediation achieved its objective, are baseless,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted an official source as saying.
Saudi Arabia has accused Libya of plotting to kill Crown Prince Abdullah in 2003. In December it recalled its ambassador from Tripoli and expelled Libya’s envoy in Riyadh. Libya has denied the accusations.
Press reports said quoting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit that his country had been mediating to resolve the row, and that the efforts had “realized their goal and some breakthrough has been achieved in the position between Libya and Saudi Arabia”.
The Saudi source said documents and investigations surrounding the Libyan conspiracy were a matter for the judiciary and results would be announced in due course.
Interior Minister Prince Naif said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia was close to concluding the investigation. He said the trial of 13 suspects — eight Saudis and five Libyans — would start soon after the completion of investigations.
In October, a US court sentenced prominent American Muslim activist Abdurahman Al-Amoudi to 23 years in jail for illegal financial dealings with Libya and for his role in the alleged assassination plot.
Amoudi said in court documents that he had contacted Saudi dissidents in London on behalf of Libyan officials to kill the crown prince. The US and Britain have frozen the assets of one of the dissidents, Saad Al-Faqeeh.
