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Riyadh: The Saudi Society for Human Rights will formally ask United States President George Bush to release the remaining Saudi detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison and close the notorious detention centre. The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the relatives of the detainees and the members of the society.
The meeting was held on Thursday at the headquarters of the society as part of the ongoing move to have the Saudi detainees released. Lawyers representing the detainees were also present. The meeting, the first of its kind, has agreed to lodge a formal petition with the US president appealing to take urgent steps to set free the remaining Saudi detainees.
The relatives have authorised the society to present the memorandum to the US embassy in Riyadh in order to forward it to President Bush.
As part of the pressure tactics to get the detainees released, the meeting agreed to convene an international human rights conference in Riyadh soon to draw attention to the condition of the Guantanamo detainees and intensify efforts for their release. Several prominent international human rights activists and representatives of human rights organisations will be invited to attend the conference. "Efforts will also continue to secure permission from the US Administration to allow members of the society and relatives to visit the detainees," a source at the society said. Meanwhile, one of the 15 Saudi detainees who was released recently from Guantanamo, said he had been subjected to inhuman torture and abuse in prison. "A young Saudi man was stripped and cold water poured on him continuously besides an Israeli flag was thrown at him while he was verbally abused," a relative of the detainee said. The team of lawyers, who was appearing for the detainees, has been disbanded and a new team was appointed under the umbrella of the Saudi Society for Human Rights. Four local lawyers were removed from the new team. The new team comprises of Dr Bandar Al Hujar, President of the society, Dr Mufleh Al Qah'tani, Deputy president of the society, Abdul Aziz Al Sabeel, Mohammad Al Oushin, Abdullah Al Juaid, Abdul Aziz Al Rubaish, Abdullah Al Qah'tani, Talal Al Zahrani, Abdullah Al Subaie, Abdul Wahab Mousa, Ahmad Mudhar and Kateb Al Shamri. Relatives of the detainees lodged several complaints against some of the lawyers in the dissolved team, alleging that they had done nothing to plead strongly for their clients. Representing families of 55 detainees, Abdullah Al Qah'tani said that a group of lawyers presented the families with false telephone numbers to contact the detainees. "Some of these telephone numbers were of restaurants and cafeterias," he said.
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