In war on terror, Saudis try amnesty

Saudi officials are testing the effectiveness of the adage: You catch more flies (terrorists, in this case) with a drop of honey than a cask of vinegar.

Saudi Arabia is more than halfway through a 30-day amnesty - and three suspects (including one Tuesday) have turned themselves in. Two Islamic clerics mediating between the government and jihadi militants say they need more honey - time and concessions - to bring an end to a series of bombings and shootouts that have rocked the desert kingdom.

The Saudi efforts are being closely watched next door in Iraq, where the new government says it will announce its own amnesty for insurgents this week.

Sheikh Mohsen al-Awaji, one of the Saudi clerics involved, says the amnesty announced June 23 should be extended for another month. "We're working around the clock in our efforts to get the wanted suspects to give themselves up and are currently in contact with several people," says Mr. Awaji, a former associate professor of geology. "We need more time."

Another sheikh involved in the negotiations, Safar al-Hawali, says that the more than 700 terror suspects behind bars should be released (at least those who have not been charged or who've finished their sentences) as a way of gaining trust of militants on the run. Saudi Arabia should also reduce its support for the United States because these young men see the US as the enemy of Islam, he told the Monitor in a phone interview.

But on state television Sunday, Crown Prince Abdullah, the country's de facto ruler, warned militants that time was running out. "If the grace period is over ... there will be no more excuses," he said.

Since May 2003, Saudi Arabia has been deeply shaken by a string of terrorist attacks attributed to Al Qaeda. The militants have killed more than 85 people, hitting Western compounds, the oil industry, and Saudi police. The attackers say they want Westerners out of the Arabian Peninsula and to set up an Islamic Caliphate.

The government has posted rewards of up to $2 million for information about the "most wanted" suspects. Thirteen of those 26 suspects remain at large, and there are dozens of people wanted by the authorities who are not on the list. Tuesday, Khaled al-Harbi, also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makki, gave himself up at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Mr. Harbi is reported to have fought with Muslim fighters in Afghanistan and Bosnia. A Saudi security source told Reuters that he was the man seen talking with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a videotape in which the two men praised the Sept. 11 attacks.

Othman al-Amri, who's on the list of 26, as another one of the three men that have taken advantage of the amnesty. Mr. Amri had been hiding out in a remote mountainous region in the southern province of Asir, according to a report on the Saudi site www.Islamtoday.net.

But others may be reluctant to follow suit because the Saudis aren't offering a full amnesty. The government says it won't prosecute, but private citizens can still seek retribution. Under Islamic law, families who have lost a close relative can either forgive murderers, take blood money, or demand capital punishment.

In support of the amnesty, Nasser al-Kandiri - the father of an 11-year-old girl killed in April in an attack on a police building in Riyadh - went on state television to announce that he's forfeited his right of retribution and urged other parents to do the same "for the sake of public interest," the Arab News reported Sunday. Kandiri's daughter, Wijdan, became a national symbol of the innocent lives lost.

Saudi officials stress the amnesty is a sign of strength and not weakness. It followed a string of blows to the organization in Saudi Arabia including the June 19 killing of Al Qaeda leader Abdul-Aziz al-Muqrin, believed responsible for last month's execution of kidnapped American engineer Paul Johnson. Since then about a dozen suspects have been arrested and several have been killed in shootouts with police.

Over the past week, two of the wanted militants, posted letters on the Internet saying they would not give up. "Jihad is an ideology that runs through our veins and beats in our hearts. Oh tyrants, God promised us either victory or martyrdom, and you promised us amnesty then prison. We will not abandon God's promise," wrote Saud al-Otaibi in the latest edition of Voice of Jihad, a web magazine. Faris Shuwayl al-Zahrani, one of three clerics on the list of 26, said that a terror suspect released from prison had broached the subject of the amnesty with him but that he would never surrender.

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