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| Arabia |
| Saudi Arabia: Police question prisoners over Al-Qaeda links |
| 2009-01-30 |
| (AKI) - Saudi Arabian police have interrogated several former detainees released from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to determine whether they support the Al-Qaeda terror network. According to reports in the Saudi daily, 'Okaz', security officials met many former detainees after reports that a Al-Qaeda has regrouped in the region and formed a new cell led by two former Guantanamo prisoners, Abu Basir al-Naser al-Wahshi and al-Azdi Said al-Shahri. Abu Basir al-Naser al-Wahshi, a Yemeni citizen, is reported to have been appointed head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after members of the organisation in Yemen and Saudi Arabia decided to increase coordination between terror cells in the region. He and his colleague reportedly crossed the Yemeni border illegally to join another two terrorists, who escaped from prison in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2006. On a video released on the internet this week, they announced the formation the new Al-Qaeda cell based in Yemen and covering the Arab Peninsula. Abu Basir also called for terror attacks against Europe and the United States to avenge Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip. "Strike the interests of the United States and European countries on the Arab Peninsula to punish them for what Israel is doing in Gaza," the Al-Qaeda leader said In response, the former Guantanamo detainees decided to write a letter to the Saudi monarch to reassure him of their distance from terrorism. Saudi authorities also decided to invite Ali Jaber al-Wahshi, the father of the new Al-Qaeda leader in the region to a re-education course organised for former detainees held at Guantanamo. "My son often accused me of being an unbeliever, because he said I followed a deviant Islam and then he suddenly left home and went to Yemen, " said Ali Jaber al-Wahshi. "To join Al-Qaeda he left his wife and children and I am sure he will not return home alive." |
| Posted by:Fred |