Saudi Red Crescent Authority Enables 14 Families to Contact Fellow Detainees in Guantanamo

Riyadh, Shawwal 28, 1437, Aug 2, 2016, SPA — Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) has implemented the program of the 31st stage of visual contacts for Guantanamo detainees, SPA reported.

This came in cooperation and coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, during the current month of Shawwal by conducting visual calls and visits between Guantanamo prisoners and their families in Riyadh, Makkah and Al-Madinah, in a length of time ranged between two hours and a half to three hours for each connection and visit.

On the occasion, Prince Bandar bin Faisal, SRCA Deputy Director General for International Affairs who is also the supervisor of the Authority’s program of restoring family links said that the visual contacts and family visits come upon the keenness of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the importance of the completion of the Kingdom’s social humanitarian role through its concerned institutions including the Saudi Red Crescent Authority through restoring family links program.

He indicated that the Authority has enabled 14 families to contact and visit their Guantanamo’s detained relatives outside the Kingdom at this stage via “Skype” program in the presence of a delegate of International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Guantánamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the US became embroiled in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The US has struggled to persuade other countries to accept the prisoners because of concerns that they could launch attacks and America’s unwillingness to accept them on the US mainland. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Ageny (MINA)