Manama - An Emirates national of Bahraini origin detained by Saudi authorities for more than a year and a half as a terrorist suspect, has been transferred to United Arab Emirates authorities, Bahraini activists said late Tuesday. Khalil Janahi, who had not been charged, was expected to be released in the coming days, according Mohammed Janahi, head of the civil liberties committee at the National Justice Movement (NJM).
"The contacts we had with both Bahraini and Emirates officials confirmed that he would be released soon since he was not charged or sentenced by the Saudi authorities," Mohammed Janahi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"This a welcome step by the Saudi government that we are deeply grateful for, and hope that it will be followed by the release of the three other Bahrainis they continue to hold, ahead of Eid al-Adha". The Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday is due to take place in mid-December.
Khalil Janahi, who holds an Emirates passport, was arrested in April 2007. He was one of four Bahrainis arrested between 2003 and this year by the Saudi authorities on suspicion of having links with terror groups.
Most prominent of the four are Abdulraheem al Murbati, 47, who has spent more than six years in Saudi jails, and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abdulla Majid al Nuaimi, 27, who was arrested on the King Fahd Causeway last month as he attempted to enter Saudi Arabia.
Al Murbati, who was arrested in April 2003 shortly after his brother Essa al Murbati was arrested and transferred to Guantanamo Bay, is the longest serving of the three Bahrainis held in Saudi prisons.
Essa was the last of six Bahrainis released from Guantanamo Bay in August of last year. Another of the six, Al Nuaimi, was freed in November 2005, with no charges ever being filed by US or Bahraini authorities.
A third detainee, Hasan al Yabis, was arrested on the King Fahd Causeway when returning to Bahrain last August.
