Forty Saudis are to be freed from the notorious US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba soon as one Saudi and three Bahrainis returned home yesterday after being released from the detention facility. The news of the impending release was revealed by a Kuwaiti activist. Saudi and Bahraini authorities too promised to keep pressing Washington to free the remaining detainees. âA group of Bahrainis and more than 40 Saudis will be sent back to their countries soon,â Khalid Al-Oudah, the head of the Society of Families of Kuwaiti Prisoners in Guantanamo, said citing âvery reliable sources.â Five Kuwaitis released from Guantanamo arrived home Thursday leaving six Kuwaitis at the facility, including Oudahâs son.Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, a spokesman of the Saudi Interior Ministry, said he had no information about the release of 40 prisoners. âI donât have information on specific number of detainees who would be released but whenever someone is released we issue a statement immediately,â he told Arab News. He said that Saudi Arabia hopes to receive the remaining Saudi detainees from Guantanamo or anywhere they might be held against their will. âThere is no timetable for the release of these detainees but there are continued efforts as we witness periodical releases of prisoners,â he said.
Al-Turki yesterday announced the release of Majed Afas Radhi Al-Shammari from the US detention camp and his arrival in the Kingdom. âHe will be interrogated by authorities here and then they will determine whether to hold him or release him,â he added.
A member of the Saudi detaineesâ defense team in Riyadh, Kateb Al-Shammari, said he was not aware of the imminent release of any of the 120 Saudis still at Guantanamo. Bahrain said with three of its citizens returning yesterday, only three Bahrainis remain at the camp including Jumah Al-Dossari who reportedly attempted suicide in mid-October.
Salman Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Abdullah Al-Noaimi and Adel Kamil Abdullah Al-Haji returned yesterday aboard a US military plane from Guantanamo, according to Bahraini authorities. âThe three have arrived and they are in their houses,â said Adel Al-Moawdah, the deputy speaker of Bahrainâs Parliament who has been pushing for their release and greeted one of them on arrival. The three were arrested four years ago by Pakistani authorities and handed over to US forces during the 2001 war in Afghanistan. âIt was an ordeal for them and their families. We have been working for their release since day one,â said Information Minister Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar.