RIYADH, 17 March 2008 — The Interior Ministry yesterday refuted a report carried by an international news agency that three Saudi nationals who had been recently repatriated to the Kingdom from Pakistan were militants.
Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, dismissed the report by the Agence France Presse (AFP), which described the three men as “militants.”
“Only after questioning the three men can we determine the activities they had been involved in, if any. As for now, they have been repatriated for being in restive regions,” said Al-Turki, adding, “They (the AFP) publish what they want.”
According to the ministry, the men had been repatriated to the Kingdom with help from Pakistani authorities.
In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said that the three Saudi citizens were found in “troubled regions in an irregular way.” The ministry said two of the men had contacted the Saudi Embassy to express their readiness to turn themselves in and return home.
The ministry did not identify the men, but said the three were allowed to meet their relatives.
For the past three years, Saudi authorities have released hundreds of prisoners who repented and renounced violence after passing through a rehabilitation program which included lengthy talks with psychiatrists, religious scholars and sociologists.
Asked about the fate of the remaining Saudi nationals wanted by the Saudi government for involvement in terrorist activities abroad, Al-Turki said the ministry was still cooperating with the Interpol in this regard.
There are still 17 Saudis at large from a list of 21 most wanted Saudis abroad released by the Interior Ministry.
