February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

WASHINGTON, Feb 7: The Saudi embassy in Washington said on Friday that US officials had arrested Saudi nationals for visa violations even though they had stayed in the country to cooperate with American authorities.

“Several Saudi nationals, who were asked by American authorities to stay in the country to cooperate with investigations, were arrested by immigration officials when they were leaving the country,” said a Saudi embassy spokesman.

“They were cleared of the charges against them but held for overstaying their visas even though they had been asked by US officials to stay,” he said.

The US media have accused the embassy of helping the wife of a terrorism suspect escape the country. The accusation brought an angry reaction from Saudi Arabia, with Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz saying the media campaign against the kingdom was “unjust and untrue”.

In Washington, the Saudi embassy spokesman said he feared the wife of the suspect could also have been arrested for overstaying if she had not returned to Saudi Arabia.

Maha Hafeez al Marri, 30, left the United States in November after the Saudi embassy issued new passports to her and her five children. US officials had confiscated their previous passports to prevent Marri and her children from leaving the country.