WASHINGTON, 1 October 2004 — US and Saudi officials are still haggling over the terms of terror suspect Yasser Esam Hamdi’s release from US custody and return to Saudi Arabia, which will not likely occur before an agreed-upon deadline yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
“There are conversations that are taking place between our immigration and other authorities and the Saudis,” Powell said. “We’re working on it and I think we’ll eventually work our way through it.”
Powell, who was speaking to reporters after meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Jhaoxing, declined to elaborate on the substance of the talks.
Earlier a State Department official told AFP that there did not appear to be any major snags in the talks and that Hamdi, who has spent nearly three years in isolation in US military custody, was still expected to be released and sent to Saudi Arabia “soon.”
“We’re still talking to them about it,” the official said, referring to the discussions underway in Riyadh between US and Saudi officials. “There are still issues with the Saudis that haven’t been finalized yet.”
“We’re getting toward the end of the road and I expect there will be an agreement concluded soon,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “There are ups and downs in the negotiations, but I am not aware of anything that would prevent it from happening.”
The official would not elaborate on what details were pending in the talks but suggested they were related to the terms of Hamdi’s release and residence in Saudi Arabia, which include restrictions on his travel and renouncing “terrorism and violent jihad.”
Under the terms of the agreement between the US government and Hamdi and his lawyers, Hamdi was to have been released and sent in “civilian clothes and unhooded” to Saudi Arabia “no later than Sept. 30, 2004.”
But the State Department official pointed to a provision in the four-page agreement, which was made public on Monday at the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia where the case was being heard, that allows for delays in Hamdi’s release in certain instances.
“If, for reasons beyond the control of the government of the United States, Hamdi cannot be transported to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on or before Sept. 30, 2004, the United States shall not be in breach of this agreement, provided Hamdi is transported to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as soon thereafter as it is in within the power of the United States to do so,” it says.
However, the agreement also provides that if the Sept. 30 deadline is not met, Hamdi can appeal the circumstances of his continued detention to a federal judge.
The Justice Department said last week that, under the terms of the agreement, Hamdi would be released from custody, stripped of his US citizenship and sent to Saudi Arabia, where he was raised.
