RIYADH, 9 July 2006 — Six Saudis and a Yemeni escaped from Riyadh’s Malaz Prison, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday. A statement from the ministry did not say when the prisoners escaped, but the ministry spokesman said it was “within a very recent time period.”
Security was tight near the Malaz Prison yesterday. The Riyadh police were seen erecting barricades on roads leading to the prison. Police also installed a checkpoint where anyone approaching the area was asked to show identification. “Some of them played a supporting role in deviant groups in the Kingdom,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki to Arab News, using the term Saudi officials employ for persons suspected of terrorist plotting in the Kingdom. He said the seven men were adherents of the takfiri ideology, a radical interpretation of Islam.
The seven fugitives were identified as Abdul Aziz Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Masoud, Osamah Abdul Rahman Sulaiman Al-Wihabi, Turki Hilal Sanad Al-Mutari, Ghazi Muhasan Al-Usami Al-Utabi, Abdul Aziz Mohammed Saleh Al-Falaj, Mohammed Abdul Aziz Al-Qahtani and the Yemeni Abdul Rahman Ta’ha Al-Hatar. According to Al-Arabiya Television, Al-Wihabi is believed to have harbored the former Al-Qaeda leader in the Kingdom, Younes Al-Hayari, who figured No. 1 on the Kingdom’s list of most-wanted terrorism suspects last year. He was gunned down by Saudi security forces in a raid on a villa in the capital’s Al-Rawda District on July 4, 2005.
The Interior Ministry said Al-Hatar was an illegal resident in the Kingdom. No information was given on the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, who the Interior Ministry said had arrived with him in the Kingdom.
The men were arrested at different times last year and their cases were being investigated at the time of their escape.
“Since they violated regulations, their cases will be withdrawn from the investigating committee and public prosecution and their trial procedures will be halted,” said the ministry statement. “If they do not return to the detention center, they will not be eligible for the amnesty granted by the king and will become wanted by security forces.”
Last month Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah renewed an amnesty he first offered for a one-month period two years ago.
The ministry warned against aiding and abetting the fugitive and urged anyone with information to call 990 or inform local officials.
