LONDON, 10 February — The British government has said that it would not prevent extradition of Garry Dixon, a Briton wanted by Saudi authorities in connection with last year's bomb blasts in Riyadh.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British government would not interfere in the matter. Saudi Arabia has requested the United Arab Emirates through the Interpol to hand over Dixon who was arrested in Dubai last June to stand trial in the Kingdom. "It is a procedural matter and is left to the UAE authorities," the spokeswoman said.
She said she could not give a date for Dixon's extradition, but pointed out that consular officials at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi had been in constant touch with Dixon.
The Kingdom sought Dixon's extradition because of his alleged links with Alexander Mitchell, one of the three suspects behind two car bomb attacks in Riyadh last November.
Interior Minister Prince Naif announced on Sunday that Mitchell, a British citizen, along with Canadian William Sampson and Belgian Raf Skivens, had carried out the two bombings that killed Briton Christopher Rodway and injured a number of others.
The extradition request followed confessions by the three Westerners on Saudi Television to their role in the two blasts. Mitchell has admitted his relationship with Dixon and their clandestine operations to produce and sell liquor which is strictly prohibited in the Kingdom.
British reports said Dixon was Mitchell's partner in an illicit liquor trade in Riyadh. He escaped to the UAE secretly through the desert, with the hope that the British Embassy there would help him travel to the UK.
However, embassy officials refused to help him. Reports also said Mitchell helped Dixon, who was working at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, to run away from the Kingdom.
