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Free Saudi Guantanamo Prisoners, Ambassador Tells US | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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TAELLBERG, Sweden (AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States said Saudi citizens detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre should be allowed to return to their homeland to face trial there.

Attending a conference on globalization, Prince Turki al-Faisal said Saudis incarcerated in the centre for suspected links to terrorist organisations should be delivered to Saudi Arabia..

“If there are any crimes that they have committed they will be tried in Saudi courts and face punishment for those crimes,” he told AFP.

On Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled that President George W Bush exceeded his powers by creating military tribunals for prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

About 460 inmates, whom the US suspects of having links to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, are currently held in the Cuba-based facility.

Prince Turki al-Faisal said it was against human rights to indefinitely incarcerate people without charging them.

“Choosing the easier path of simply excluding whoever it is from society and from considerations of human rights and civil liberties would be inimical to the practice of human rights and civil liberties,” he said.

The Supreme Court ruling has been welcomed by the European Union, human rights groups as well as lawyers for the detainees.