JEDDAH, 2 July 2005 — A wanted militant whose name has appeared on a list of 36 terror suspects surrendered to Saudi security authorities yesterday amid press reports three others on the same list had died in Iraq.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that Fayez Ibrahim Ayub, who is No. 29 on the list, had surrendered to authorities after returning from abroad yesterday “to explain his true position,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted a ministry official as saying.
The official said Ayub’s family would be allowed to meet him and his surrender would be taken into consideration while looking into his case. “Normal measures will be taken to ascertain his position,” he added.
Press reports, meanwhile, said three men on the list — Saudi Faris Abdullah Al-Dhahiry Al-Harbi, Chadian Noor Mohamed Moussa and Saudi Ali Mater Al-Osaimi — had been killed fighting alongside insurgents in Iraq. Al-Harbi is reported to have died in a suicide operation in November last year. The Saudi government has not yet confirmed the reports.
Also yesterday, one of the imams of the Grand Mosque in Makkah called upon terrorists in the Kingdom to surrender to authorities and repent for their mistakes in order to end the bloodbath among Muslims.
Delivering his Friday sermon, Sheikh Saleh ibn Mohamed Al-Taleb expressed deep sorrow over the killings of Muslims in the land of the two holy mosques. “Is it not time to end this bloodbath?” he asked.
The imam was apparently referring to the recent murder of Lt. Col. Mubarak Al-Sawat, a top investigation officer in Makkah, and other terrorist attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda militants. “We appeal to those who have broken away from the true Islamic group to return and those who made mistakes to repent and surrender to authorities in order to clear away the suspicions surrounding them,” Al-Taleb said.
The imam said he hoped Saudi authorities would look into the cases of those who surrender “with understanding, wisdom and mercy.”
