Posted on 07/23/2004 4:01:19 PM PDT by True Capitalist
Surrender of al-Qaida Chief Negotiated
Amnesty for Saudi Militants Expires As Cleric Says Negotiators Sent to al-Qaida Chief
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt July 23, 2004 — An amnesty period for Saudi militants ended with no major figures netted, but a cleric said Friday that negotiations were under way to try to get the purported al-Qaida chief in the Arabian Peninsula to surrender.
The Saudi Interior Ministry, seeking to encourage last-minute surrenders, said those who contacted authorities before the amnesty expired at midnight Thursday could still benefit from the offer, even if they don't turn themselves in until later. There was no word Friday if any militants made such an arrangement.
Sheik Safar al-Hawaly told The Associated Press that an intermediary was sent to al-Qaida chief Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi on Thursday night.
The cleric would not say where al-Aoofi was. Saudi security forces detained his wife and three children after raiding his Riyadh hideout late Tuesday and finding the head of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr.
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh confirmed Friday that the head found in a freezer was that of Johnson, an engineer with Lockheed Martin who was kidnapped June 12 by an al-Qaida cell and beheaded six days later.
"We did see the head on Thursday and have confirmed that it is the head of Paul Johnson, unfortunately," embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin told The Associated Press in a call from the Saudi capital.
Speaking by phone from the southern Saudi province of al-Baha, al-Hawaly said he was negotiating with another 15 militants who had indicated they wanted to accept the amnesty but had reservations.
The 15 include people who are on the list of the 26 most wanted suspects in Saudi Arabia, al-Hawaly said. He would not give their names.
Saudi officials could not be reached for comment Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.
Six militants surrendered during the one-month amnesty that King Fahd declared on June 23. The most prominent was Khaled al-Harby, a confidant of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Twenty-seven other militants were sent back to Saudi Arabia from a number of countries during the same month.
None of the six are regarded as terrorist leaders, but some experts believe they are still valuable.
"The amount of information that's being gleaned from them is huge," said Nawaf Obaid, a national security consultant.
The amnesty promised that those who surrendered would not face the death penalty, although they would still be prosecuted.
Pro-government newspapers forecast Friday that the government would now intensify its campaign against the militants.
"The amnesty ended and the battle began," said a headline in Okaz. Another daily paper, Al-Riyadh, said: "Royal amnesty is over, and the chase continues mercilessly."
Johnson, 49, who grew up in Eagleswood Township, N.J., worked on Apache helicopters and had lived in Saudi Arabia for about 10 years.
His kidnappers issued a video showing him in captivity and demanding that Saudi Arabia free all its terror detainees in exchange for his life. His body has not been found.
Hours after the kidnappers posted pictures of Johnson's beheading on the Internet, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the alleged leader of the cell that carried out the abduction.
Al-Moqrin was reported to have been succeeded by al-Aoofi as head of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has suffered a series of suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings since May last year. The attacks, which have targeted foreign workers, have been blamed on al-Qaida and sympathizers of the anti-Western group.
Did the amnesty say anything about extradiction?
He beheads an American and someone tries to give him amnesty?
The American Indians had far better ways to exact revenge than modern America and it's allies.
I would suggest burial up to the neck in an anthill of fire ants. Alabama has many of them, and probably more than a few of them would dig the hole.
A little pork fat could be rubbed in every now and then to help with the stinging.
I don't know what they'd really do with him, but a life sentence in a Saudi prison would have me begging for the death penalty.
They have some of the most inhospitable territory in the universe in that part of the world. A prison cell probably elevates a sizable part of the population to luxury.
Amnesty? What the hell?!? Send the bastard on a 10-mile hike straight to "paradise".
That's AMNESTY they're offering not ANTNESTY
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