(WASHINGTON DC) August 16… Iran arrested and deported hundreds of Saudis back to Saudi Arabia, not just 16 claimed by Prince Saud AlFaisal earlier this week, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to SIA news.
The news of the arrest was reported by SIA News in June and was confirmed Thursday by Iranian daily on the net “Amrooz” who quoted unnamed Iranian official saying Iran arrested and deported over 400 members of Al-Qaeda who fled Afghanistan.
SIA News reported in June that Iran arrested hundreds of Saudis and handed them to Saudi Arabia through Madina airport. (See attached June 18th storey).
Sources told SIA News that a planeload of Saudis were flown to Madina airport in January and moved to several prisons in the western province.
In mid June Saudi Arabia released 160 Saudi members of Al-Qaeda from jail after brief detention. AlHayat newspaper quoted a Saudi security official June 17th saying the released Saudis were driven by religious zeal to fight with Taliban and had posed no threat on the Kingdom’s security.
In November the interior minister Prince Naif released Hassan Al-Suraihi, a senior member of Al-Qaeda and assistant to Usama Ben Laden. According to one of his friends, Al-Suraihi who was arrested in 1994 in Pakistan was tortured severely.
Over 100 Saudis remain in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, including a longtime Saudi interior ministry official Mr. Abdullah Al-Matraify, who was arrested in Pakistan and handed to US authority. |
