01 October 2004	Friday	15 Shaban 1425

WASHINGTON, Sept 30: The United States and Saudi Arabia are still haggling over the terms of terrorism suspect Yasser Esam Hamdi's release and his return to the kingdom, which will not likely occur before Thursday's agreed-upon deadline, a State Department official said.

However, the official stressed that there did not appear to be any major snags in the talks and that Hamdi, who has spent nearly three years in isolation in US, was still expected to be released and sent to Saudi Arabia 'soon.'

"We're still talking to them about it," the official said, referring to discussions underway in Riyadh between US diplomats and officials from the US Justice Department and Saudi authorities. "There are still issues with the Saudis that haven't been finalized yet."

"We're getting toward the end of the road and I expect there will be an agreement concluded soon," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "There are ups and downs in the negotiations, but I am not aware of anything that would prevent it from happening."

The official would not elaborate on what details were pending in the talks but suggested they were related to the terms of Hamdi's release and residence in Saudi Arabia, which include restrictions on his travel and renouncing "terrorism and violent jihad."

Under the terms of the agreement between the US government and Hamdi and his lawyers, Hamdi was to have been released and sent in "civilian clothes and unhooded" to Saudi Arabia "no later than September 30, 2004." But the State Department official pointed to a provision in the four-page agreement, which was made public on Monday at the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia where the case was being heard, that allows for delays in Hamdi's release in certain instances.

"If, for reasons beyond the control of the government of the United States, Hamdi cannot be transported to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on or before September 30, 2004, the United States shall not be in breach of this agreement, provided Hamdi is transported to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as soon thereafter as it is within the power of the United States to do so," it says.

The Justice Department said last week that, under the terms of the agreement, Hamdi - who was born in the US state of Louisiana but then became a Saudi citizen - would be released from custody, stripped of his US citizenship and sent to Saudi Arabia, where he was raised.

Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban militia and had been held incommunicado ever since in US naval brigs as an "enemy combatant."

As a US citizen, Hamdi took a challenge to the Supreme Court, which in June ruled that he must be allowed access to the US court system. He was never charged with a crime by US authorities.

Hamdi's expected release will leave Jose Padilla as the only US citizen known to be held as an enemy combatant in the United States. The Supreme Court rejected Padilla's petition on a technicality.

In June, US authorities accused Padilla, who has been held without charge for two years, of plotting to blow up apartment buildings in the United States and set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.

A third accused enemy combatant, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, is serving a 20-year prison sentence in California for fighting alongside the former Afghan regime.

Lindh appealed to US President George W. Bush to commute his 20-year term after the announcement of the deal with Hamdi, but US officials have shown no inclination to consider such a move. -AFP