Issue of detained Kuwaitis to top agenda
KUWAIT CITY: The issue of the five Kuwaitis who are being held in Saudi Arabia will be at the top of the agenda of First Deputy Premier, Minister of Interior and Defense, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah who will leave for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the head of a high level security delegation next Sundday to attend the Eighth Consultative Meeting of interior ministers of GCC states, reports Al-Anba daily quoting reliable sources. Earlier, the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali had strongly spoken against attempts to harm the security of Saudi Arabia in whatever manner. He also explained the embassy was following the incident with the Saudi Ministry of Interior and commended the cooperation between the security authorities of the two states.
Meanwhile, the Al-Rai daily quoted Sheikh Jaber as saying he has been personally following the issue and that he had assigned a special security body to end the issue through legal procedures based on security cooperation between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. He added that by the grace of God the arrested persons will return to Kuwait next week after the Saudi security authorities complete interrogations with them. He also hoped 'all' will respect the laws of other countries and not violate them for whatever cause. The Al-Wasat daily quoted a high level diplomatic source as saying the five Kuwaitis arrested in Saudi Arabia will return home as soon possible -- less than a week. The source said interrogations conducted with detainees showed they were promoting a religious cassette of some prominent preachers. The same source said there is no 'terrorist suspicion' in this case, saying "they (the arrested persons) are victims of lack of experience and ignorance of Saudi laws". The case will be solved within days, the daily added.
The source said, "The accused happened to be at the wrong time at the wrong place to promote and market religious cassettes". According to a reliable security source the officers were in Saudi Arabia to perform a pilgrimage 'umra'. The same source said the men were stopped by Saudi police when they were traveling to Madinah from Makkah. The sources said the officers were arrested for roaming the streets in their car distributing religious cassettes and the men are detained to see if they have links to extremist religious groups. The arrest of these men comes following the arrest by Saudi Arabia of some citizens allegedly belonging to the al-Qaeda network who were planning to blow up Saudi oil facilities on the Sept 11, 2001 scale.
Meanwhile, the interior ministers meeting in Riyadh is expected to focus on GCC cooperation in fighting terrorism, organised crime, and in facilitating the exchange of security information among the member states of the GCC, said the statement. Among members of the Kuwaiti delegation will be Interior Ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Major General Khalid Al-Esaimi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for State Security Brigadier Sulaiman Al-Mehailan, Director of the Department of Legal Affairs Brigadier Fahad Al-Mesaireea, and Director of the Minister's Office Brigadier Saud Al-Shatti, in addition to a number of Interior Ministry officials, said the statement.
© Arab Times 2007
