JEDDAH, 31 August — The parents of two Saudis held at a US military base in Cuba have expressed happiness over efforts made by the Saudi authorities to win freedom for their sons.
The two Saudi fathers told Al-Watan daily that they had received letters from their sons Jaber Hasan Al-Qahtani, 24, and Abdullah Hamid Al-Mosleh, 23, in Guantanamo.
"They said they were in good health and were treated well by the Americans," the daily quoted the parents as saying.
In their letters, Jaber and Abdullah expressed optimism that their ordeal would end soon.
According to Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad, there are 125 Saudis held at the US military base at Guantanamo, Cuba, on suspicion of links to terrorism.
The prince said no charges have so far been brought against the Saudis, who were captured during the US-led war against Al-Qaeda organization and the Taleban government in Afghanistan.
Hasan Al-Qahtani, father of Jaber, said his son and Abdullah have been friends since their school days in Makkah. "They had joined a charitable organization in Qatar.
The charity later sent them to Afghanistan to distribute relief supplies there. All these took place before the Sept. 11 attacks," he said.
The two parents said their sons had no links with Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization.
In a recent interview, Prince Ahmad said: "Many of the Saudi detainees in Guantanamo are young and were fooled or swayed by media reports about the situation in Afghanistan and the jihad, so they went there without consulting scholars or their parents."
"There are some detainees who were working with charitable and humanitarian organizations, but they are a few," the prince told Okaz newspaper.
A Saudi team has visited the Saudi prisoners in Guantanamo and the Kingdom is negotiating with US authorities about their release, he said. Saudi Arabia has said that it wanted all Saudi suspects handed over to Riyadh when US authorities are through with them.
"The Americans showed understanding about the situation of those detainees but the issue requires more time to tackle," Prince Ahmad said.
US authorities have refused to give the detainees in Guantanamo prisoner-of-war status as set out under the Geneva Conventions and are reserving the right to present them before secret US military tribunals that have the power to impose the death penalty.
