Saudi won't extradite Bayumi

2003-07-29 12:57

Riyadh - Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz on Tuesday ruled out the extradition of Saudi national Omar al-Bayumi, suspected by Washington of having been an associate of two of the 9/11 suicide bombers.

"We have never handed over a Saudi to a state or foreign party and we will never do it," Prince Nayef said when asked by Al-Hayat newspaper if Riyadh was ready to extradite Bayumi.

A US congressional report on the September 11, 2001 attacks released last week stated that Bayumi was an associate of two of the hijackers, Khaled al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and could have been a Saudi government agent.

"Reports that Omar al-Bayumi is an agent of the Saudi government are baseless and not true," Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said at the time.

"It is unfortunate that reports keep circulating in the media describing him as an agent of the Saudi government with attribution only to anonymous officials," Prince Bandar said.

- AFX