A portrait of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) burns after protestors set alight his effigy during a protest against terrorism(AFP/File/Mandel Ngan)
Posted on 01/11/2004 11:16:45 AM PST by NormsRevenge
RIYADH (AFP) -
Saudi Arabia, engaged in a crackdown on Islamist extremists blamed for a string of bombings, said it had extradited two Moroccan militants to Rabat in exchange for three Saudis jailed in Morocco on al-Qaeda linked charges.
"Security forces today received three Saudi citizens convicted and jailed in Morocco on security-related charges," said an interior ministry official quoted by the state SPA news agency.
He named them as Abdullah bin Misfer al-Ghamdi, Zuhair bin Hilal al-Thabiti and Hilal bin Jaber al-Assiri, who were sentenced by a Casablanca court in February last year to 10 years in prison for plotting attacks against Western targets in Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar.
"The kingdom handed over to Moroccan security authorities two Moroccan nationals (wanted) for security-related issues," the official said.
He identified the pair as Ali bin Idriss al-Uzli and Mohammad bin Mohammad Alwan.
On December 6, Saudi Arabia named two other Moroccans -- Hussein Mohammad al-Haski and Kareem al-Tuhami al-Majati -- among 26 suspects wanted for involvement in "terror acts" in the kingdom.
The list also included a Yemeni, while the rest were Saudis, one of whom has since been killed in clashes with security forces while another surrendered, according to Riyadh.
The interior ministry official did not give details about the Moroccans handed over to Rabat, but a Saudi security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the pair had been "arrested on charges of starting to plot terror acts with other" suspects.
Sunday's swap "comes within the framework of cooperation between security authorities in the two brotherly countries," said the official cited by SPA.
The three Saudis were accused of being part of a cell of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaeda terror network, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
The court in Casablanca said the three were guilty of "having formed a criminal gang" but did not mention al-Qaeda.
Three Moroccan women, two of them married to two of the Saudi defendants, were sentenced to six months in jail. Three other Moroccans received sentences ranging from four months to one year. One Moroccan was acquitted.
Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for the Saudi defendants and the two Moroccan spouses.
The five were charged with planning to use Zodiacs -- motorized rubber dinghies -- to blow up US and NATO (news - web sites) ships in the Strait of Gibraltar and to attack tourist spots in Morocco, including Marrakesh's Jemaa El Fna Square.
The Saudi security source said the three Saudis would serve the rest of their sentences in prison here.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Morocco, Abdul Aziz Khuja, had told AFP on Saturday the three would imminently be handed over to the kingdom and the two Moroccan spouses would join them at a later date after serving their sentences.
"Relatives of (the three men) will be able to visit them," the interior ministry official said, according to SPA.
Hit by a string of deadly bombings last year, Saudi Arabia has launched a massive crackdown on Islamist militants believed linked to al-Qaeda.
Hundreds of suspected extremists were rounded up in the wake of three simultaneous attacks on expatriate housing complexes in the Saudi capital on May 12 which killed 35 people, including eight Americans.
A series of similar suicide bombings in Casablanca four days later left more than 40 people dead, in addition to the bombers.
Last month a court in Rabat sentenced in absentia five men including a Briton of Moroccan origin to 20 years each in prison on terrorist charges in connection with the Casablanca attacks.
In Riyadh, suspected al-Qaeda suicide bombers struck again on November 8, setting off a car bomb in another expatriate housing complex and killing 17 people, mostly Arabs.
A portrait of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) burns after protestors set alight his effigy during a protest against terrorism(AFP/File/Mandel Ngan)
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
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| 23 | Maine | 401.00 |
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10.00 |
1 |
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