JEDDAH, 17 June 2004 — Saudi officials have visited 124 Saudis detained at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and held talks with American officials about their possible handover, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.
A ministry source quoted by the Saudi Press Agency said a Saudi security team had also discussed the conditions under which the prisoners were being held.
“The Saudi security team charged with following up the conditions of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo visited them there to check on their situation, help bring about their release and ensure they are in touch with their families,” the source told SPA.
“The team met all 124 Saudi detainees and found that they are generally in good physical and psychological shape and that all those who were wounded during the Afghan war have recovered,” the source said.
He did not give the date of the visit but said it was the second of its kind.
The statement comes against a backdrop of press reports about the anguish of the families of the detainees, who are among roughly 600 prisoners held during the US war on Afghanistan in late 2001.
Treatment of foreigners being held in Guantanamo Bay has come under renewed scrutiny since the scandal over the abuse of prisoners by US troops in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.
Some Saudi families have been complaining that they had not received any letters from their detained sons for several months. Many families, as well as lawyers, have said the detainees are young and had gone to Afghanistan to participate in relief work.
“The Saudi security team held several meetings with those responsible for their detention and discussed the situation of the detainees as a whole and the possibility of their handover to the Kingdom or (at least) those who have not been proven guilty,” the Interior Ministry source said.
“The team is continuously pursuing its work in an effort to help end the issue of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo as soon as possible,” he said.
The team brought back letters from the prisoners who chose to write to their relatives, he added.
Washington has classified the Guantanamo prisoners as “illegal combatants” rather than as prisoners of war, drawing worldwide criticism from governments and human rights groups. Charges have been laid against only a handful of the detainees from 42 countries being held at the base.
Human rights groups have called on US authorities either to charge the prisoners under the Geneva Convention or free them.
