RIYADH, Aug 26: Saud Al Rasheed, the 21-year-old Saudi, listed by the FBI as a terror suspect and who handed his name over to the Saudi authorities late last week, will be put on trial in Saudi Arabia, if it was found that he had links with terrorism, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced.

However, the ministry ruled out the possibility of his extradition to the United States.

An official of the Interior Ministry was quoted here as saying: “Preliminary investigations indicate that he never travelled to the United States.”

However the official confirmed that Saud left for Afghanistan on June 18, 2000 and returned on June 9, 2001. The official also clarified that investigations are currently going on and in case of any evidence of his involvement in terror cases, he would be tried in a Sharia court in the Kingdom.

Saud’s father had denied the involvement of his son in any terror attacks and said that he was in Afghanistan on a charity mission, to help his Muslim brethren. He however, accused the Pakistani authorities of handing over his son’s photograph and other information to the United States because he had gone to Afghanistan via Pakistan.

Meanwhile the Saudi daily Okaz, quoting an FBI official, said that there was no evidence against Saud in the US.

“We called for his arrest after seeing his photograph along with suspects linked to the Sept 11 attacks and we wanted to know why his photograph was found with those people,” FBI spokesman Bill Carter told Okaz.

In the meantime, with a number of accusations flying in the US against Saudi individuals, it was reported here today that Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador in the US would carry an important message from Crown Prince Abdullah to President Bush, at his Texas ranch on Tuesday.

As per reports here, the message would deal with US-Saudi relations, which have been sorely tested in the aftermath of the Sept 11 events.

Former President Clinton’s National Security Advisor James Linzy was quoted by the press here as saying that this is an important meeting and will bring the Saudi-US relations back to normal.

Reports citing a senior US administration official indicate that President Bush would explain to the ambassador the US justifications for waging a war on Iraq.

Riyadh is currently opposed to any military strikes against Baghdad to remove the Saddam Hussain government from power. This meeting is being viewed with considerable hopes here in Riyadh.

President Bush has invited a few world leaders to his ranch before. Many people here believe that the invitation to Prince Bandar to see the President at his ranch was to underline the importance that Saudi Arabia enjoys in the eyes of the current US administration.

US officials were quoted here as saying that President Bush, through this meeting, also wants to assure the Saudi people that they are important friends of USA despite the difference on Iraq (and some other) issues.