RIYADH, Oct 5: Saudi citizens have started to feel being persecuted amid a perceived rise in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments in the US in the wake of last month’s carnage. Scores of Saudis have returned from the United States, where more than 4,000 still live, most of whom are students.
The returnees from the United States include 24 members of the Laden family.
The members of the Laden family were evacuated from the US, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
The Saudi government arranged for the evacuation of the family members, most of whom were students, to protect them from any backlash.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif pledged on Tuesday to protect the Laden family. “They have full rights and have responsibilities like all other Saudis and they should not be blamed for deviation in the behaviour of one of them. We will not accept that,” he said.
Five of Osama’s children currently live as normal citizens in Saudi Arabia. Yahya bin Laden, brother of Osama, told the Okaz daily that five of Osama’s children still hold Saudi citizenship and the eldest among them, in his 20s, is employed. The authorities were treating them like any other Saudi citizen, he added.
Other Saudis in the US are also unsure of the situation there. “I am dead worried about my two boys studying in America and we are seriously thinking of bringing them back home,” a Saudi businessman told the media here.
