RIYADH: The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) is continuing to prosecute terror suspects, with a total of 2,215 individuals so far brought to court, an official spokesman said Saturday. “There have been 1,612 verdicts while the specialist penal court is currently looking into the cases of 603 accused persons,” the BIP spokesman said, adding that charge sheets are drawn up “as per Article 126 of the Penal Procedures Law”. “The bureau is completing general charge sheets for 934 suspects and continuing investigations into 1,931 persons ahead of their referral to the specialist penal court. In total, there are 5,080 people who are either under investigation, are awaiting completion of judicial procedures, or have been convicted.” Commenting later on the BIP statement, Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said that the procedures constituted the results of the “promise made by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior” to bring “cases related to the deviant group to court”. Speaking to Saudi Television, Al-Turki said that the BIP's figures showed that 90 percent of detainees held by security authorities – a total of 5,696 individuals – are currently on trial or have been sentenced. 616 remain under investigation. “5,831 persons have been released, constituting over 50 percent of the total handled by the security authorities in those cases,” he said. “184 of them were released in the first three months of this year.” On the BIP figure that 1,931 persons are still being investigated prior to court referral, Al-Turki said that their confessions had been heard and that the results of the investigation were “being reviewed to determine the procedures to take with each one”. “The attorney general does not bring a case against any suspect if he feels there is insufficient evidence against them,” he said. “The security authorities are fully committed to the regulatory measures for these cases and all their tasks are subjected to the laws governing them.” Al-Turki made special mention of a Cabinet ruling brought into effect three years ago permitting extensions to the detention of suspects in terrorism cases of up to a year if deemed “in the interest of the investigation”. “The measure is not applied to every detainee, but to those whose suspected crimes require them to be put before the court while they are detained, and it happens after investigations with them have been completed,” he said. He added that individuals are entitled to seek compensation for extended detentions necessitated by the nature of their alleged crimes.“486 people detained by the security authorities have been compensated with sums totaling over SR32 million. More than 16 people have objected to the compensation offered and taken their cases to the specialist penal court.” Al-Turki also addressed reports that some individuals had been kept in detention beyond the period of their sentences, saying that there are “exceptional cases”. “They are subject to the ruling of a Shariah Committee formed upon Royal Order of three members chaired by a judge to look at the necessary precautionary measures concerning each person who, if released, might pose a threat to security due to his staunch commitment to his deviant thoughts.” Al-Turki concluded by praising the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution's work in the cases, and emphasized that all counter terror efforts in the Kingdom are conducted according to the law. “We must not forget the crimes most of the detainees have been charged with and the security threat they pose,” he said. “I'd like to recall here the statement by the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior in 2008 which noted that 74 security men had died and 657 others injured, while 90 innocent citizens and expatriates were killed while 439 others were wounded.” Al-Turki also spoke on the conditions under which detainees are held, saying that they “enjoy all the rights guaranteed by the regulations in force in the Kingdom”. “Families are allowed to visit their detained sons and those who are married are given privacy with their wives,” he said. “They are also provided with telephone access.” He said that detainees are permitted to complete university education and that monthly financial assistance is provided to them and their families. “The ministry has spent SR529 million on detainees and their families,” he said. In 2008, detainees received 225,000 visitors, a figure that rose to 243,100 in 2009 and 292,164 in 2010. Since Dec. 7 of last year the number has reached 98,258. Also mentioned among the figures were conjugal visits, which in 2009 numbered 15,695, followed by 12,500 in 2010, and 5,000 since the beginning of the current Hijri year.
