Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Guantanamo is a source of worry, Saudi body told
The Guantanamo detention centre is a source of worry to the US government, says Raphael Areca, US assistant secretary of state for human rights affairs.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 September 27, 2006
Riyadh: The Guantanamo detention centre is a source of worry to the US government, says Raphael Areca, US assistant secretary of state for human rights affairs.
"The US administration is in the process of shutting down the detention centre. There are certain procedures yet to be completed," Areca said during her meeting with Banadar Al Hujar, president of the Saudi National Human Rights Society yesterday.
Referring to the issue of Saudi detainees at Guantanamo, the Saudi side sought "either their immediate trial or release". Regarding the case of the Saudi detainee Humaidan Al Turki, the human rights officials urged the US official to grant him his civil rights and not to subject him to more harassment.
Al Turki, who left for the US for higher studies, was first imprisoned in the United States at the end of 2004 for the alleged violation of immigration laws. Later he was released on bail. He was again imprisoned in June 2006 for harassing his Indonesian housemaid. On August 31, an American court sentenced him to 28 years in prison after being convicted on ill-treatment and harassment charges.
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