Mansour Al-Shehri Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH – The Iraqi authorities delayed the execution of a number of Saudi prisoners to allow time for implementing an extradition treaty between the two countries, Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al-Asadi said in Riyadh. Al-Asadi handed a list containing the names of 63 Saudi prisoners in Iraq to Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Interior Minister. “The Saudi Interior Ministry provided us with a list of 18 other Saudis thought to be held in Iraq. We're going to run a check on the names,” Al-Asadi said at King Khalid International Airport on Friday while leaving the Kingdom after “a successful visit.” A-Asadi said a number of bilateral issues were discussed with focus on borders, anti-terrorism efforts, extradition, drug trafficking and previous agreements, he said. The Kingdom and Iraq signed several agreements in the past such as the one signed in Riyadh in 1980s and the one in Cairo in 2010. “We'll go over these agreements again and focus on the articles about the extradition of prisoners,” the deputy minister said. He also said there are between 110 and 115 Iraqis held in Saudi prisons. He added that he was going to discuss the results of his visit with the Iraqi Parliament members and urge them to ratify the extradition treaty between the two countries, the approval of which has been delayed by the Iraqi Parliament. Commenting on the transfer of some Saudi inmates to a top security prison in Iraq, Al-Asadi said they took this step following a prison breakout in which 70 Al-Qaeda operatives escaped. “Dangerous prisoners and those sentenced to death were taken to Sousa Prison,” he noted.
