Al-Awaji: some 300 Saudi detainees accused of terrorism will be released shortly
Saudi Arabia, Politics, 12/17/2003

The Saudi lawyer Sheikh Mohsin al-Awaji said yesterday that about 300 persons out of 900 detained in the Saudi prisons over suspicion to have links to terrorism will be released in "the few coming days."

News reports quoted al-Awaji as saying, quoting sources close to the file of the detainees, that "those detainees number more than 900 and it is expected that 300 of the them will be released during the few coming days." The Saudi authorities said it had detained hundreds, not specifying their number. This is, however, in the framework of its fighting Islamists which had intensified after the attacks of Riyadh on May 12 where 35 were killed, and November 8 where 17 were killed.

Al-Awaji, a former prisoner is running a cultural forum on the internet. He added that the mediation he had carried out by the authorities and the Islamic groups are continuous in order to bring back viewpoints and to avoid new attacks. He continued that the "good offices initiative between the authority and the gunmen was announced on the 10th of Ramadan ( by the beginning of November) by an independent committee of four Sheikhs who have strong credibility. Since then they have been working and achieving encouraging results, thanks to the cooperation among all sides concerned."

The Saudi minister of the interior Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz ruled out in statements in November any dialogue with those who stand behind the explosions in the kingdom. He stressed that the Saudi authorities will not " maintain a dialogue with them except with the gun and the pistol."

Previous Stories:
  Turkey al-Faisal: Iraq has become an area for terrorism attraction   (12/12/2003)
  Two Islamists killed in Saudi Arabia in clashes with police   (12/9/2003)
  US embassy in Riyadh warns of new attacks   (12/3/2003)
  Fahd, Abdullah call for unity, not deviation from Islam; deny Saudi citizens bank account audits   (11/25/2003)
  US opens embassy, Riyadh rejects dialogue with Islamists   (11/15/2003)

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