RIYADH, 6 April 2003 — Interior Minister Prince Naif disclosed yesterday that the case of Westerners arrested in connection with a series of blasts in the Kingdom was still before court, and a verdict has yet to be issued.
“The case of all the accused individuals is now before the court. The accused as well as their lawyers have been given a chance to defend their cases,” he told reporters. “We are awaiting the decision of the judges,” he added.
Asked about the growing number of crimes in the northern Al-Jouf region, he replied: “There is no particular region in the Kingdom known for criminal activity. Such crimes may occur at any place.”
At least three gun attacks took place in the region over the past seven months, resulting in the death of the deputy governor of the region as well as a Shariah court judge and a traffic officer.
Prince Naif also said there had been no influx of Iraqi refugees or illegal immigrants into the Kingdom since the US-led war on Iraq broke out on March 20. He said there were only “a few Iraqis being taken care of at Saudi border posts,” and that Saudis would never hesitate to provide relief aid to the Iraqis.
The minister reiterated that he had no information about Saudi volunteers having gone to Iraq to wage a holy war against US and British forces. However, he said he would “not be surprised” if any Saudi had gone to the war-hit neighboring country.
Prince Naif expressed hope that the on-going war against Iraq would end soon inflicting minimal damage to Iraq as well as other countries in the region. He said the Kingdom has already expressed its opposition to the war.
However, he pointed out that the war had not affected the Kingdom’s security.
“Our security is now of the highest order. Everything is going on as normal. There has been no rise in prices, and Saudis are not stocking up on items more than is usually the case,” he said.
Prince Naif denounced a report aired by the Doha-based Al-Jazeera channel that the Kingdom had arrested a number of senior Islamic scholars.
“The report is totally false and fabricated. We respect all Islamic scholars in the country,” he said.
On the human rights committees to be established in the Kingdom, he said first of the two committees will be formed shortly.
“A number of citizens presented their request to King Fahd to set up one of the committees,” he said. “The second, which is a government committee, will also be set up soon.”
