JEDDAH, 12 July 2004 — Crown Prince Abdullah has warned militants still in hiding to take advantage of the days remaining before an amnesty ends this month or face a renewed crackdown.
Only two militants, one of whom is on a list of 26 most wanted terror suspects issued last year, have surrendered under the one-month deal announced June 23.
“When this month expires, neither the state nor the people will allow them any excuses,” the crown prince told senior officials and Saudi citizens here on Saturday evening.
On June 23, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd announced a 30-day partial amnesty for terrorists. In a televised speech read out by the crown prince, the king said those who heed the call and give themselves up would not be punished by the state but could still have to account for their crimes under Shariah law.
“All those affiliated to this group (of terrorists) and who were not captured have a chance to return to God and engage in soul-searching. Those who turn themselves in of their own will within a month of this speech will be secure in the security of God... and will be treated according to God’s law pertaining to the rights of others,” the speech said
Saudi officials have repeatedly stressed that the government was not offering the pardon out of weakness but to give extremists an opportunity to come to their senses.
The crown prince told Saturday’s audience the state will hunt down all those who do not surrender. “We will be with those who follow God’s guidance, but we will go after those who follow the devil. Those who heed the call and give themselves up will have divine law applied on them. But those who follow in the footsteps of the devil will face destruction, chastisement and God’s wrath,” he said.
At least 87 policemen and civilians have been killed since May 2003 in a wave of attacks on government sites, oil firms and residential compounds by militants. The original list of 26 most wanted men issued by the Interior Ministry after the November 2003 suicide attack on a Riyadh housing compound has now been reduced to half after a number of militants were either killed or gave themselves up.
Last month security forces killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom, Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, together with three henchmen hours after they beheaded US hostage Paul M. Johnson whom they had seized three days earlier.
