Gold9472
02-21-2007, 09:37 AM
Guantanamo Saudi inmates released
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21264450-1702,00.html
From correspondents in Riyadh
February 21, 2007
SAUDI Arabia said today that seven Saudis held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay had arrived home after the United States freed them.
The official Saudi news agency SPA said Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz "expressed his appreciation at the level of co-operation with the US authorities, hoping that this step will pave the way to free all remaining Saudis soon".
Saudi public anger over the treatment of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo has been high in the Gulf Arab state, a key US ally.
Two Saudis were among three prisoners who hanged themselves in June at the prison.
US Department of Defence announced on December 14 that it had transfered 16 detainees from the controversial prison in Cuba to Saudi Arabia.
Around 50 of the nearly 400 detainees still held at the facility are thought to be Saudi.
Saudi Arabia has freed many of the 45 prisoners who were repatriated last year for having ended their jail terms.
Many of the men held at Guantanamo were captured in Afghanistan in the U.S.-led war to oust the Taliban after the September 11 attacks.
Many have been held for years and nearly all are being held without charge.
Most of the 19 suicide hijackers who carried out the attacks on US cities in 2001 were Saudis.
Washington has designated Guantanamo prisoners "enemy combatants", denying them the prisoner of war status that would guarantee then certain rights under international law.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21264450-1702,00.html
From correspondents in Riyadh
February 21, 2007
SAUDI Arabia said today that seven Saudis held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay had arrived home after the United States freed them.
The official Saudi news agency SPA said Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz "expressed his appreciation at the level of co-operation with the US authorities, hoping that this step will pave the way to free all remaining Saudis soon".
Saudi public anger over the treatment of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo has been high in the Gulf Arab state, a key US ally.
Two Saudis were among three prisoners who hanged themselves in June at the prison.
US Department of Defence announced on December 14 that it had transfered 16 detainees from the controversial prison in Cuba to Saudi Arabia.
Around 50 of the nearly 400 detainees still held at the facility are thought to be Saudi.
Saudi Arabia has freed many of the 45 prisoners who were repatriated last year for having ended their jail terms.
Many of the men held at Guantanamo were captured in Afghanistan in the U.S.-led war to oust the Taliban after the September 11 attacks.
Many have been held for years and nearly all are being held without charge.
Most of the 19 suicide hijackers who carried out the attacks on US cities in 2001 were Saudis.
Washington has designated Guantanamo prisoners "enemy combatants", denying them the prisoner of war status that would guarantee then certain rights under international law.