Saudis arrest Bahraini Qaeda suspect

Saudi government has taken its security even more seriously since 12 May

The official Bahrain News Agency quoted an unnamed security source on Wednesday as saying Saudi authorities were questioning Abd al-Rahiim Ali al-Murbati “under the current security investigations to combat terrorism”.
   
It was not clear if the man had been charged or if he had any direct links to the 12 May bombings which killed 35 people and were blamed on al-Qaeda network.
   
Bahraini newspapers earlier reported that al-Murbati has a brother being held at the infamous US base in Cuba, initially built to hold al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects, captured in the US-led war in Afghanistan.
   
Al-Murbati was detained by Saudi security forces while accompanying his family on a trip to the neighbouring Arab kingdom to seek medical treatment for his son.
   
The source said the family wanted to stay in the holy city of Medina – where Saudi forces last month raided suspected armed activist hideouts – until Murbati was released.
   
Saudi Arabia has intensified security measures after the Riyadh bombings and arrested more than 40 suspects.

Riyadh has also asked Iran to hand over a number of Saudis held in Iran on suspicion of belonging to al-Qaeda network.

Iran to co-operate

On Tuesday, Iran agreed to turn over a number of Saudis currently held in Iranian prisons, said a senior Iranian official.

The announcement was the first confirmation by Iran that some of al-Qaeda members it is holding are Saudis.

“Some of the identified al-Qaeda members are Saudi nationals. We will hand them to our Saudi friends,” Sabah Zanganeh, an adviser to Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, told journalists on Tuesday.

Zanganeh said no date has been set for the extradition, adding that the matter was discussed when the Saudi foreign minister visited Tehran last week.

However, in rejection of US accusations, Iran has said al-Qaeda figures it has in custody could not have been involved in the Riyadh attacks because they were detained beforehand.

Zanganeh said the identity of the detainees was likely to be announced in the coming days.