Saudis Issue List of 85 Terrorism Suspects


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By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: February 3, 2009

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Eleven Saudis who were released from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and then passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists are now believed to have fled the country and joined terrorist groups abroad, Saudi officials said Tuesday.

The 11 former detainees include two who were already identified last month as members of a Yemeni terrorist group. Their names were on a list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects made public Tuesday by the Saudi Interior Ministry.

The announcement further underscored the difficulties faced by the Obama administration as it prepares to close the Guantánamo detention center. All told, 14 Saudis now appear to have rejoined terrorist groups after their return from Guantánamo, including the 11 living abroad and 3 who were rearrested in Saudi Arabia after their return.

Any perceived weaknesses in the Saudi program — widely viewed as a successful model — could pose problems for the return of the remaining Guantánamo detainees. Almost half of those are Yemeni, and their return depends in part on Yemen’s creation of a rehabilitation program based on the Saudi one.

It is not clear whether any of the 11 former detainees being sought by Saudi Arabia have taken part in terrorist attacks. Last month, American counterterrorism officials confirmed that Said Ali al-Shihri, a Saudi who was released from Guantánamo in November 2007, had become the deputy leader of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, and that he was suspected of being involved in a deadly attack on the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen’s capital, last year. Shortly afterward, Mr. Shihri appeared in a propaganda video alongside another former Guantánamo detainee, identified as Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Awfi.

Saudi officials have issued lists of wanted militants before, but the list of 85 — all but two of them Saudi — was the largest so far. As in the past, the authorities appealed for the men to return and turn themselves in.

“They will, of course, be interviewed and investigated and prosecuted for any crimes they may have committed,â€