February 11, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 27, 1422

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RIYADH, Feb 10: Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz said Sunday that Riyadh would interrogate Saudi suspects being held by the United States if Washington hands them over.

The Americans “only have to hand them to us. We will interrogate them here,” he told a joint press conference with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Khaled al-Sabah.

Prince Nayef said that if allowed Saudi Arabia would also send a commission of inquiry to the US base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to question the suspected Saudi members of the al-Qaeda terror network captured in Afghanistan.

But he added that Riyadh would prefer to be able to try them in the kingdom.

On Jan 28, Prince Nayef said the number of Saudis detained in Cuba exceeded one hundred.

Asked Sunday about those Saudis still being held by the Afghan authorities, the interior minister said his government wanted to see them extradited.

“They are Saudi citizens. Whether they have made mistakes or not, we are asking for their return to their country to be questioned and (eventually) tried.”

Pakistan said nearly a month ago that 240 Saudis had been arrested on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and were in US hands. Prince Nayef also said that some 30 suspected supporters of Osama bin Laden had been arrested in the kingdom, and some had been subsequently released.

“Others are being sought,” he said. “We hope to find them in order to complete our investigations.”—AFP