Yemen has handed over five Saudi Arabian nationals to Saudi authorities, all wanted by Riyadh in connection with terrorism and acts of sabotage, the Dubai-based Gulf News reported.
The men, said to have been drawn to "deviant" ideologies, a reference to the Al-Qa’ida, are on a list of 85 terror suspects living abroad that the Saudi authorities issued a month ago. They include six former detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
A statement issued together with the list calls on the wanted persons to “return to reason and wisdom” and surrender under an August 4, 2008 amnesty offer, whereby their return to the country would be secured and they would be reunited with their families depending on the charges against them.
Among the suspects that have accepted the offer and returned to Saudi Arabia is Muhammad ‘Atiq ‘Aweid Al-‘Awfi, who is a former prisoner of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
Saudi Arabia has put hundreds of militants through a rehabilitation program, which includes education by clerics to help the participants discard their terror affiliation. The program also offers financial help to start a new life.
In a video message posted on the Internet in January, the local Al-Qa’ida branches in Saudi Arabia and Yemen announced they had merged into "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East and is perceived as a safe haven for extremist militants, due to the lack of government control over part of the country.