RIYADH – An Iraqi Embassy official has said that appointing Western lawyers to defend Saudis imprisoned in his country will not have the desired effect. “Anyone who thinks that an American or British lawyer can better defend the prisoners is not right,” said Maad Al-Obaidi, official in charge of legal and bilateral relations at the Iraqi Embassy in Riyadh. In a letter sent to Al-Jeraisy Lawyers' and Legal Consultancy Office, Al-Obaidi noted that Saudi or Iraqi lawyers could defend the prisoners in the best possible way. The official also extended full cooperation to lawyers appearing for some 60 Saudis who are imprisoned in various Iraqi jails, said Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisy, chairman of the law firm. Al-Jeraisy also indicated that the Iraqi authorities have agreed to allow Arab lawyers to defend the prisoners. “Any lawyer belonging to the Arab Lawyers' Syndicate can appear in Iraqi courts to defend Saudi prisoners,” he said quoting the letter. Meanwhile, the Saudi government sought clarifications from Baghdad about the fate of 10 Saudi prisoners. It also called for investigations into the whereabouts of two of these prisoners who reported died seven years ago but their bodies have so far not handed over to their relatives. There are conflicting reports about the number of Saudis who face execution in Iraq. Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani, Iraq's minister of human rights, said there are only two Saudis who are sentenced to death in Iraq while Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisy and Thamer Al-Bulaihed, Saudis lawyers who appear for the prisoners, put their number at five. The lawyers met Al-Sudani at the Iraqi Embassy in Riyadh on Wednesday and discussed various issues concerning Saudi prisoners. They urged the minister to facilitate visits of the prisoners by their relatives. “We requested the minister to transfer the prisoners to jails in the Kurdistan region so that their relatives can travel from Jordan and meet them. We also called for retrial of Saudis who are sentenced to death,” Al-Jeraisy said. The meeting was held following a request made by the Committee for Helping Saudi Prisoners in Iraq, of which Al-Bulaihed is the president. Al-Jeraisy, who is also member of the lawyers' committee at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they asked the Iraqi minister to set up a hotline between the Saudi authorities and Iraqi jail authorities to follow up the condition of prisoners. Al-Bulaihed hoped that Iraq's Acting President Khazir Al-Khazai would sign the document to give amnesty for 25 Saudis following its endorsement by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. At present, there are 61 Saudis in Iraqi jails while the number of Iraqi prisoners in the Kingdom is about 120. “The Saudi lawyers unsuccessfully tried to contact the director general of Iraqi prisons after reports about torture and harassment of Saudi prisoners following Iraq's defeat in the Gulf Cup final,” Al-Bulaihed said. In another development, an official source at the Saudi Ministry of Interior said a recent agreement signed with Jordan was related to the transfer of prisoners and was not a deal for prisoner swap as reported in a section of the media. “A committee has been formed to streamline the transfer of prisoners,” the source said while adding that the agreement has no political dimensions..
