Gulf | Bahrain

Bahrain denies reports about its nationals being detained in Saudi Arabia for spying

Bahraini officials on Monday denied reports that the eight Bahrainis detained in Saudi Arabia since February 29 have been charged with spying for Iran.

  • By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
  • Published: 16:09 June 16, 2008
  • Gulf News

Manama: Bahraini officials on Monday denied reports that the eight Bahrainis detained in Saudi Arabia since February 29 have been charged with spying for Iran.

A report published by Elaph, the London-based Arabic news website, on Sunday said the Bahrainis, mostly teachers, arrested by the Saudi authorities near a military base in Riyadh have been found guilty of spying for Tehran and faced the death penalty.

But Bahraini officials said that they were not aware of the alleged development.

"We are in constant touch with the Saudi authorities and we have not received any information that their status has been changed," Bahrain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mohammad Saleh Al Shaikh said.

"We are in fact now working with the Saudi interior ministry on arranging a second visit by the families of the detainees in coordination with the foreign ministry," he said on Monday in a statement carried by the Bahrain News Agency.

The last contact between the two countries occurred on Sunday amid expectations that the arrangements would be finalized within days, the envoy said.

State minister for foreign affairs Nizar Al Baharna said the ministry was not aware of the intelligence charges.

"We have not heard anything about the charge of spying for Iran. We are working on a second visit and we do hope that it will happen in the near future," he said in a press statement.

The Saudi charge d'affaires in Manama, Abdul Rahman Al Khalaf, confirmed: "There are contacts between the two countries on the issue and that their case is being considered."

The detention of the Bahrainis has baffled Bahrain in the absence of formal charges or official explanations from the Saudi authorities.

A Bahraini human rights watchdog has expressed concern that the detention of eight Shiite Bahrainis may be motivated by sectarian tension plaguing the region.

"We are deeply concerned that the eight detainees are in fact the victims of political conflicts and sectarian tensions in the region," the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said in a statement sent to Gulf News.

Last month, four political societies called on Bahraini and Saudi authorities to draw on their special relations and work on releasing the men.

The detainees told their families during the only time they were allowed to meet in the Haer prison near Riyadh that "they had driven two cars on back roads from a tourism site towards the Saudi capital, but got lost and after an hour ended up near a military base where they were arrested and put in solitary confinement".

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