Lankan among 999 terror suspects detained in Saudi

Some 999 terror suspects from 40 nationalities, including one from Sri Lanka, detained in Saudi Arabia's intelligence prisons, according to Nafidha, the Interior Ministry's window for communications between the suspects and their relatives.

The new list of suspects, who for arrested for their involvement in terrorist activities and national security issues, included three Canadians as well as a number of nationals from countries that had not on the list previously, the Saudi Gazette reported.

The new countries that found their place on the list are China, Eritrea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Kenya.

According to the window, there are eight suspects from Afghanistan, four from Ethiopia, one each from Eritrea, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Libya and Mauritania, 22 from Jordan, two each from the United Arab Emirates, Mali, Myanmar and Algeria, 10 from Bahrain, 33 from Sudan, four from Somalia, two from China, four from Iraq, 16 from the Philippines, two each from Kuwait, Bangladesh and Morocco, 19 from India and five from the United States.

The window said there are 365 Yemenis, the largest community on the list of suspects, 10 from Iran, 70 from Pakistan, 19 from Turkey, 17 from Chad, four from Russia, 221 from Syria, 20 from Palestine, three each from Qatar and Canada, four from Lebanon, 87 from Egypt and five from Nigeria.

A number of suspects were already tried and are serving their prison terms while others are under investigation.