JEDDAH, 28 February — Interior Minister Prince Naif has expressed the hope that the United States would respond positively to the Kingdom’s request to hand over the Saudis detained in the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
He revealed that Yemen had handed over to the Kingdom a Saudi suspected of links with Al-Qaeda organization.
“We don’t have any information about more Saudi suspects in Yemen. But we are following up these issues and there is good cooperation between the two countries,” Prince Naif told the Okaz newspaper in a wide-ranging interview published yesterday.
Asked if the authorities had established that the man extradited by Sanaa belonged to Al-Qaeda, the prince said: “Investigations are at an early stage and we cannot say anything more until we get all the facts.”
Prince Naif said the Kingdom does not know how many Saudis are being held at the Cuban base. He said last month that there were around 100 Saudi nationals held at the base.
However, the minister reiterated that the Kingdom wanted all Saudi suspects held by the United States handed over to Riyadh after the investigations.
Asked about the progress in the case of 30 Saudis arrested in the Kingdom in a clampdown on suspected Al-Qaeda activists, the prince said more time was needed to complete the investigations. “Some of the arrested people were sent to jails while others are released,” the prince said, adding, “We have to give investigators sufficient time.”
Prince Naif said Riyadh had no information about the fate of Osama Bin Laden. “We don’t have any information on him and we don’t give much importance to the issue,” he added.
The interior minister called upon Afghanistan to give full protection to Saudi relief workers in the country. He said he does not know the exact number of Saudi detainees in Afghanistan.
Referring to this year’s Haj operation, Prince Naif, who is the chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, said, “thanks to good planning, it was a resounding success. The government had taken all precautions to face any eventualities.”
He said the Interior Ministry had set up a committee to look into the issue of fake Haj permits. “We will take this matter very seriously and the violators will receive deterrent punishment,” he added.
The prince promised that he would look into complaints by some police officers, who were posted on Haj duty, that they were not given housing and food in the holy sites.
However, the prince said more than 50,000 officers were deployed on Haj duty this year and it was unlikely that any one of them did not get proper care.
Asked about the fate of seven Westerners awaiting trial for their alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Riyadh and Alkhobar during the last two years, Prince Naif said: “Their case is now before the judiciary.”
In interviews broadcast on Saudi television last year, four Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian confessed to involvement in the attacks, carried out in November and December 2000 and March 2001. A Briton was killed in one of the attacks and several people were injured in the bombings.
The state-appointed defense lawyer, Salah Al-Hujailan, said at the time that a fifth Briton had also been charged but gave no details. He also said that the Canadian was undergoing psychiatric treatment and unfit for trial.
The five Britons, whom Hujailan did not name, were to stand trial for bombings that occurred in the capital Riyadh. Four were named as Alexander Mitchell, James Cottle, Les Walker and James Lee. The fifth Briton has not been identified.
Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad had previously linked the attacks to score-settling between people involved in illegal activities such as the lucrative alcohol smuggling trade. If convicted, the seven suspects face execution.
