October 16, 2001	Tuesday	Rajab 28, 1422

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RIYADH, Oct 15: Saudi Arabia has officially protested to the US administration against the mistreatment of Saudi citizens in the US by security authorities after the Sept 11 incidents.

In a letter of protest, presented to the US authorities, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has written of the “excessive behaviour of the American security agencies towards the Saudis,” Ahmad Qattan, director of Prince Bandar’s office was reported here on Monday as saying.

The US authorities have so far arrested and questioned 173 Saudis living in their country in connection with the attacks in New York and Washington. Fifty-four of them are still under investigation, he said while speaking to the Saudi daily Okaz.

“The Saudis in detention are generally in a satisfactory condition, despite individual cases of excessive interrogation and maltreatment by the US authorities,” Qattan said.

The Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif has reiterated that Saudi Arabia would not allow any individual or group to use its territory as a base for terrorism or as a launching pad to carry out random attacks on peaceful people living elsewhere in the world.