JEDDAH, 5 January — The United States has released 12 Saudi nationals detained for questioning after the Sept. 11 attacks on US cities, Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, Saudi ambassador to Washington, said yesterday.
Some of those released were heading home while others remained in the US.
The ambassador said that most of the Saudis held in the United States were detained for violating immigration laws, traffic laws or other minor incidents, the agency reported. It gave no figures on the number of Saudis still being held.
Washington launched a massive investigation after the September hijack attacks, which it said were staged by supporters of Osama Bin Laden.
The investigation involved questioning more than 5,000 foreign men, aged 18 to 33, who entered the US on non-immigrant visas after Jan. 1, 2000, and have passports from countries where Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network has been present or active. The Justice Department said last month it had nearly finished questioning them.
There were no figures on the breakdown by nationality of those being interviewed, but most were believed to be Arabs, including many from Saudi Arabia. Critics have denounced the detentions as tantamount to racial profiling.
