RIYADH, 18 June 2007 — Interior Minister Prince Naif said that two religious courts had been established in the Kingdom — one in Riyadh and one in Jeddah — to speed up the trials of terrorist suspects who have been apprehended in the country. “These courts will work with the Cassation Court and will work during the evening,” he explained. He said the two courts would begin work soon.
Prince Naif also called on Saudi parents to keep a close eye on their children’s activities, adding that those who reported their son’s terrorist activities were serving the country. “They will be serving their sons or brothers by reporting them. The government will return them to the right path,” he said. According to him, the 11 terror suspects recently apprehended in the Kingdom are being questioned and the Saudi justice system “will give them a fair trial.”
Prince Naif went on to say that much remained to be done on the ideological side in the Kingdom’s battle against terrorism. “We need greater efforts from religious scholars, sheikhs, thinkers and people working in educational institutions,” he said. “Unfortunately, these efforts have not yet been seen and they need to happen as soon as possible.”
Speaking about the deaths of two Saudi men while in the custody of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Prince Naif said: “Initial investigations show that commission members had nothing to do with their deaths. They are two cases. No less and no more. The court will decide on the matter according to the investigation.”
He called on journalists and people in the media not to be hasty and “not blow up” mistakes by government bodies, “whether the body is the commission or any other government body.” Speaking at a news conference at the Naif Security Academy after attending the graduation ceremony, the prince said that it was not in the interest of Iran to show hostility toward its Gulf neighbors, and he called on Iranian officials to show restraint in making statements. He called for mutual respect between Iran and Gulf countries. Prince Naif did, however, stress that Iran should support noninterference in the domestic affairs of Iraq. “The difference in religious schools does not justify interference,” he said, adding that if any interference was made by Iran it should be on the basis of restoring unity.
The prince confirmed that there were Saudi terrorist suspects held in Iran. He said that he had met with the Iranian ambassador in the Kingdom to ask for their names.
He said his ministry could not confirm the presence of Saudis in the Fatah Al-Islam militant group in Lebanon. “There is a possibility though that Saudis are unfortunately among them,” he said.
He asked Lebanese officials to report without delay to Saudi authorities if and when a Saudi terror suspect was caught in Lebanon.
He denied that Saudi authorities had received any terror suspects from Iraq. “It is unfortunate that Iraq has become a fertile ground for training and assisting in terrorist operations,” he said. The minister said that those being trained in Iraq as terrorists were being exported to Saudi Arabia and other countries, a matter which he says is of “deep concern” to Saudi authorities.
Commenting on the ministry’s provision of nationality to some Arab tribes who have lived in the Kingdom for a long time, the minister said that some of them had been given Saudi nationality after it was proven that their origins were Saudi. He ruled out according dual nationality to naturalized Saudis.
