US terror watch list 'covers more than 1m people'

Manama: The CIA and FBI have more than one million individuals listed on their terror list and 20,000 new names from all over the world are included daily, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

Lawyer Abdullah Hashim, a member in the Jihadist Islamic Adala Movement told Gulf News that the list was being updated and criteria for selecting those names is unknown.

Hashim highlighted the short detention of one member of the movement on Tuesday night by the Saudi Authority at the King Fahd Causeway while he was coming home after visiting a relative in Saudi Arabia. Hashim refused to reveal the name of the man for security reasons as he feels that the movement's members are targeted inside and outside of Bahrain through pressure from the US.

"The man was released yesterday by the Saudi Authorities who gave the excuse that the arrest was made because of similarity of the man's name with another suspect. We don't believe it and had warned the man to avoid going there."

Talks

He said that the man used to visit Saudi Arabia regularly to see his aunt and when he was arrested, his wife and mother were with him and the Saudi Authority called one of his family members to bring back the wife and mother along with the car to Bahrain.

"The release was made after we engaged in serious talks with officials inside and outside Bahrain," he said, while highlighting that the movement's members were being monitored because of their beliefs and Islamic thoughts.

Hashim vowed to protect all the members of the movement and follow the case of another Bahraini, Abdulrahim Al Murbati who is in custody in Saudi Arabia from 2003 without known charges and trial and two cases in Bahrain that are being handled by court. "We will not spare any legal channel to secure their justice and give them a fair court hearing."

Last year, the Bahraini authorities had arrested a group for allegedly running a sleeper cell and planning to attack US targets. Some were released later due to lack of substantial evidence while some were charged in absentia.