Posted on 07/16/2007 4:16:28 PM PDT by mdittmar
Riyadh: Sixteen Saudis transferred from the US prison in Guantanamo Bay arrived home yesterday and were immediately detained by authorities investigating possible terrorist connections, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
A total of 77 Saudis have now been returned from Guantanamo, Major General Mansour Al Turki told SPA.
He said 53 remain incarcerated at the US military facility in Cuba, a source of tension in US relations with Saudi Arabia, a close ally of Washington. Al Turki's figures correspond to those maintained independently by The Associated Press.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz expressed his 'great joy' over the return of the 16 prisoners, praising "the cooperation by the American authorities," according to SPA. He said he hoped the remaining Saudi detainees would return home in the near future.
The prisoners who were transferred yesterday were expected to remain in custody while authorities investigated whether they had links to militant organisations, the report said.
Enemy combatants
Six groups of Saudis have returned from Guantanamo, the first in May 2006, and all have been detained on arrival.
Three Saudis have died in Guantanamo prison, one in May and two the previous year, in what US officials have said were suicides.
Many Saudis do not believe that and think the detainees were abused - a claim the US denies.
Most of the 19 suicide hijackers who carried out the attacks on US cities in 2001 were Saudis.
Washington has designated Guantanamo prisoners "enemy combatants", denying them the prisoner of war status that would guarantee them certain rights under international law.
The United States began using the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in January 2002 for people captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan who were suspected of having links to Al Qaida or the Taliban.
Guess I'll go with this one.
"Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see."
if it comes from the old media.
Saudi Terrorist.
Talk about redundancy.
So they will take the terrorists back and the returnees do not complain.
Meanwhile a 19 year old nanny will be beheaded because a baby died while in her care?
Nothing to see here, move on!
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