Posted on 01/28/2004 7:06:28 PM PST by HAL9000
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The United States has revoked the diplomatic visas of seven Saudis as part of a tightening of visitor controls after the Sept. 11 attacks that involved mainly Saudi perpetrators, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.None of the Saudis was suspected of any wrongdoing other than a visa irregularity. They worked as teachers at an Arab institute outside Washington and were not employed by the Saudi Embassy, meaning they were not entitled to diplomatic visas, the officials said.
"They (the Saudi Embassy) got a diplomatic visa for people better suited for a work visa," one official, who asked not to be identified, said. The teachers were expected to return to Saudi Arabia later this week.
The move could further strain relations between the United States and the world's largest oil supplier that have been tense since the hijacked plane attacks believed to have been masterminded by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington said it had no immediate comment. There was no one available to comment at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America, where the seven Saudis worked. The embassy's Web site has a link to the site of the institute, which offers Arabic and Islamic studies courses and is affiliated to a university in Riyadh.
The U.S. officials said the move was part of a general review since Sept. 11, 2001 of diplomatic visas issued to all countries and did not single out Saudi Arabia.
It was not the first time the United States had revoked a Saudi diplomatic visa as part of the review and other countries had also been responsible for similar irregularities, one official, who asked not to be identified, said without giving details.
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