Saudi terror amnesty fails

A month-long amnesty offered by Saudi King Fahd to militants who turn themselves in has failed to attract hardcore militants responsible for the killings of scores of Saudis and foreigners in waves of attacks that began in May 2003.

However, since the amnesty was announced on June 23, four wanted men have surrendered to Saudi authorities, including Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby, a confidant of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, and 27 others have been repatriated from a number of countries.

Under the amnesty, the government pledged not to seek the death penalty against militants who turn themselves in.

Alex Standish, editor of Jane’s Intelligence Digest in London, said that the surrenders won’t have “an enormous impact.”

“The key militants, the senior members of al-Qaida and the people who are active outside the kingdom, these are people who are not likely to be taken in by any amnesty at all,” said Standish.

“If you surrender to an amnesty what you’re really saying is that the struggle was for nothing.”

“These are not simple criminals. These are complicated … people who have an ideological world view,” Standish added. “The committed militants … do not hand themselves in when an amnesty is declared unless they have achieved substantially the objectives which they set for themselves.”

Saudi officials have stressed that they have not let up on the hunt for militants who don’t take up the offer.

On Tuesday, Saudi security forces killed two militants and wounded three others in a raid on the residence of Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, believed to be al-Qaida’s chief in Saudi Arabia, officials said.

The identities of the dead and wounded were not disclosed, but two Arab satellite stations reported al-Aoofi could be among them.

As the Friday end of the amnesty period approaches, questions are being raised about what kind of impact, if any, the pardon offer has had.

Some say the men who have surrendered are providing valuable information.

“The amount of information that’s being gleaned from them is huge, and it’s going to put the remaining ones in a corner,” said Nawaf Obaid, a national security consultant with close contacts within the Saudi government.

“They have no way of knowing how much of their logistics, of their networks, even outside Saudi Arabia, have been compromised by this information.”

The amnesty offer was made in the name of the ailing King Fahd last month after a series of suicide bombings, gun battles and kidnappings blamed on al-Qaida members or sympathisers.

The violence has created panic among the 8.8 million-strong foreign community that provides much needed expertise in the oil and defence sectors and constitutes most of the blue collar workers in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is not the only country to try a more lenient approach with militants. In Yemen, a religious judge initiated a dialogue with jailed suspected militants that resulted in the release of 246 of them.

According to the Supreme Court Judge Hammoud al-Hitar, not one of those released has lapsed to his old ways.

In Iraq, the government is expected to announce an amnesty soon for some insurgents, and officials have appealed to militants to seize the opportunity to lay down their weapons.