Iraq says it will execute Saudi convicts

JEDDAH: The Iraqi National Security consultant Faleh Al-Fayyad has said his country has no intention to halt the executions of those indicted in terrorism-related cases including Saudis.
In an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Al-Fayyad said that the law will be implemented against the prisoners. “Law is applied to Saudi prisoners just like it is implemented against Iraqis, and both countries understand this.” He said there is no discrimination against Saudi defendants. “There are Iraqi criminals in Saudi prisons who are facing the death penalty.”
He denied accusations that evidence against Saudi prisoners is insufficient. “Those arrested were all captured red-handed. The Iraqi judiciary does not consider weak evidence but rather discards it.”
On the accusations against Nouri Al-Malki’s government regarding “sectarian-based executions," he said, “Most criminal acts and armed attacks take place in the cities of Mosul, Salahaddin, Anbar and Diyala and terrorism there is present more than anywhere else. For example, in Turkey, most executions involve Kurdish people."
“Al-Qaeda always seeks to create sectarian unrest,” he said.
He added that the Saudi-Iraqi border is safe “and we are cooperating largely in terms of combating smuggling.”