16 Saudis at Gitmo scheduled to go home

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Sixteen of the estimated 128 Saudi Arabian terrorism suspects imprisoned here will be released to their government this week in the largest transfer of detainees in a year, a Saudi official announced Wednesday.

The U.S. decision to release the 16 suggests diplomatic headway by the State Department in persuading foreign governments to take responsibility for their detained nationals and clearing the way for reducing the prisoner population — still numbering more than 460 — at this U.S. base in southern Cuba.

The decision to release the 16 men was announced in Washington by visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who said the men would be jailed upon arrival in their home country while a judicial review weighed whether criminal charges were in order.

Pentagon officials refused to confirm Saud's announcement.

The transfer would bring to more than 280 the number of Guantánamo captives sent off the island since the first of at least 759 arrived in January 2002.

Saudis account for the second-largest national group among the "enemy combatants" after Afghans, who number more than 200 and are also gradually being repatriated to their homeland under negotiated conditions.

Many of the 19 hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States were Saudi citizens; most were in conflict with the kingdom's leadership.

In a related development, Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said Tuesday that U.S. officials had informed Islamabad that eight Pakistanis also are scheduled for release soon. Authorities at the base have refused to confirm any transfer.

The Saudi statement comes amid a Bush administration effort to thin the population at the Guantánamo interrogation and detention center.

Gun attack in court kills Turkish judge

ISTANBUL, Turkey — A gunman opened fire on judges in Turkey's highest administrative court Wednesday, killing one and wounding four after shouting "God is great!" and "We are God's ambassadors!"

Police and witnesses said the attacker, who was arrested and was being interrogated by anti-terrorist police, was a lawyer who was incensed over a ruling further restricting Islamic dress in Turkey. The shooting occurred at midmorning in the heart of Ankara, the capital of a republic founded 83 years ago on principles that regard Islam as a threat to democratic governance in a country that is 99 percent Muslim.

Four of the justices, including Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin, who died of gunshot wounds to the head, had voted in February against the promotion of an elementary-school teacher who wore an Islamic-style head scarf outside of work.

The attack stoked tensions between the secular establishment and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government. Turkey's secular military is deeply uncomfortable with the government's position on the head-scarf issue and what it sees as creeping Islamization of society.

Also

Australia trial: An architect charged with plotting a terrorist attack in Australia took the stand at his trial Wednesday and denied involvement in the alleged plot. Pakistani-born Faheem Khalid Lodhi, 36, is standing trial on four terrorism charges in the New South Wales state Supreme Court. He has pleaded not guilty.

Afghan mission extended: Canada's Parliament narrowly backed a two-year extension of the country's Afghan mission to February 2009 on Wednesday, despite serious misgivings by many opposition legislators. The House of Commons voted 149-145 in favor of the motion by the minority Conservative government.

Compiled from Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Reuters and The Associated Press