The highjackers of Saudi plane are Saudis
Saudi Arabia, Local, 10/16/2000

Saudi deputy minister of the Interior prince Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz has announced that the highjackers of the Saudi passengers plane Boeing 777 which landed at Baghdad's International airport are Saudis.

In a statement to the Saudi daily Okaz issued on Sunday, the Saudi prince said the Saudi government has started an investigation immediately after the highjacking of the plane at King Abdul Aziz international airport in Jeddah.

The paper mentioned the names of the two highjackers Faisal Naji al-Balwi and Ayesh Ali al-Freidi in the list of the Saudi passengers on the Highjacked plane.

However, the two highjackers of the Saudi plane which was highjacked to Baghdad on Saturday said in a press conference they held at Baghdad's airport that they intended through the kidnapping of the plane to restore back justice and equality to the Kingdom. One of the highjackers said we " sought through our initiative ( highjacking ) to call for the freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia."

He blamed the Saudi authorities for wasting the public funds and criticized the presence of American and British armies in Saudi Arabia.

He claimed that there is a bomb on the highjacked plane and that he has its remote-control system.

Meantime, the passengers of the airplane left today morning to London hours after their return to Riyadh last night coming from Iraq.

The Iraqi authorities was able yesterday morning to release the 90 passengers and the 14 member crew members as well as detaining the kidnappers.

Previous Stories:
  highjacked Saudi plane   (10/14/2000)
  Saudi warning to illegal emigrants to leave the country   (6/23/2000)
  On the riots in Saudi Arabia   (4/25/2000)

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