Seven More Gitmo Detainees Arrive (Saudi Arabia)

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Raid Qusti, Arab News


RIYADH, 22 February 2007 — Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that seven Saudi detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba have been released by US authorities. The Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency that the seven detainees arrived in Riyadh yesterday morning. The ministry gave the names of the released detainees as: Majed Al-Harbi, Rashed Al-Ghamdi, Faisal Al-Naser, Muhammad Al-Harbi, Naser Al-Subaei, Abdullah Al-Judi and Majed Al-Qurashi.

Interior Minister Prince Naif welcomed the release of the Saudi detainees. “Following directives from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the Kingdom is pursuing its efforts to get all Saudis held in Guantanamo Bay released,” he told SPA.

According to the spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, this is the seventh group of detainees to be freed. Al-Turki said that the ministry had arranged for detainees’ families to meet the freed prisoners in Riyadh. Asked about the fate of other detainees previously released from the prison, the spokesman said that they had been tried according to the laws of the Kingdom and released.

“All in the six previous groups have been tried and released from prison,” he told Arab News. He said that the latest group had undergone medical tests upon their arrival and would be tried according to the Saudi laws. “If their trials produce no evidence against them, they will be released,” he said ...

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=92520&d=22&m=2&y=2007