01/28 21:24 Saudi Arabia Wants 100 Detainees From Afghanistan Tried at Home
By Paul Tighe (Saudis think they are above ANY LAW )
Riyadh, Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia said 100 of its citizens
captured in Afghanistan and held by the U.S. at the Guantanamo
Bay navy base must be sent home for interrogation, the Associated
Press and Agence France-Presse reported.
The Saudis are among 158 prisoners the U.S. flew to its base in
Cuba for interrogation over their possible links to the Taliban or the
al-Qaeda network, which is held responsible for the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
``We want them (to be handed over) to interrogate them because
they are subject to the kingdom's rules,'' AFP cited Interior Minister
Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as saying. Saudi Arabia is in contact
with the U.S. over the detainees, he said.
The Saudi request will be considered on a case-by-case, President
George W. Bush said yesterday.
``There's a lot of Saudi citizens that chose to fight for al- Qaeda
and/or the Taliban that we want to know more about,'' Bush said.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation identified 15 of the 19
hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks as being Saudi nationals.
Saudi Arabia has rejected criticism in the U.S. it hasn't done enough
to crack down on extremists since the attacks.
Bush said yesterday the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay
may be given noncombatant status under the Geneva Conventions,
paving the way for the men to be prosecuted.
``The detainees will be well treated,'' Bush said after meeting
Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai. ``They just won't be
afforded prisoner-of-war status. I'll decide beyond that whether or
not (they) can be noncombatants under the Geneva Conventions.''
Government lawyers are discussing how to apply the Geneva rules
written in the wake of a world war ``to the war on terrorism, where
people don't wear uniforms, there are unlawful combatants, and they
come from 30 different nations, not any one recognized nation with
whom the United States is fighting a war,'' White House Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer said.
Civil rights groups and some European allies said the prisoners'
treatment and legal status violates the Geneva Conventions. |
