P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH, 20 March 2004 — The families of Saudi prisoners in Guantanamo have called on the US administration to release their loved ones after a civilian trial and hand them over to the Kingdom.

The families made the request during a meeting in Riyadh with American journalist David Ottaway, an investigative reporter with the Washington Post. The meeting was arranged by a team of Saudi lawyers trying to win the release of some 120 prisoners.

Muhammad Al-Aushan, the brother of prisoners Abdul Aziz and Salman, told the journalist his brothers were engaged in relief work in Afghanistan at the time of their arrest.

Jamal Khudair, who studied in the US and is now pursuing a doctoral degree in Britain, said the scenes of chained Guantanamo prisoners showed America in a bad light.

“They give the impression that America does not care for human rights and human dignity,” said Khudair, a relative of the Al-Aushan brothers.

“I am sure that Abdul Aziz is innocent,” Khudair said.

Aed Hamoud Al-Otaibi said his brother Bandar, a final-year engineering student, had gone to Pakistan with a group of Islamic preachers during the summer vacation. “We had not heard from him until we got the shocking news that he was in Guantanamo.”

Otaibi said the news so depressed his father that he does not want to see anybody.

Abdullah Al-Subaie said his brother Abdul Hadi, 33, was arrested on the Pakistani border on his way to join relief efforts in Afghanistan. He was held by tribesmen who handed him over to American forces.

Subaie said the incident had turned the life of his whole family upside down. Muhammad, Abdul Hadi’s 12-year-old son, asked the journalist when he would be able to see his father.

Abdul Hakeem Al-Mousa went to Afghanistan with a Haramain charity delegation, according to his brother Abdul Wahab. “We had no contact with him until we got a letter from the Red Cross saying he was among the Guantanamo prisoners,” Al-Jazirah daily quoted Mousa as saying.

The families also say they have had no communication from the prisoners for the past six months.

Ahmed Mazhar, the head of a legal team acting for the prisoners, urged US authorities to allow the Saudi prisoners to talk to their loved ones in the Kingdom, if only for a short time, to reassure them.

“No existing laws or charters allow imprisonment of the inmates at Guantanamo indefinitely without trial,” Mazhar said, urging the US government and humanitarian agencies to cooperate with the team’s efforts.