Saudi Anti-Terror Arrests

On June 25, 2008, Saudi Arabian officials announced that they had arrested 701 members of a terrorist cell allegedly connected with Al Queda. Of the initial arrests, which took place over the course of six months, 520 remain in custody.¹

Purportedly, the group had been planning a series of attacks on a wide range of targets in Saudi Arabia, including major oil infrastructure.¹

Fast Facts

1. Arrests took place over six months²
2. 701 people arrested¹
3. 520 remain in custody¹
4. 181 released due to lack of evidence¹
5. Group linked to Al Qaeda¹
6. Allegedly were planning attacks on several targets in Saudi Arabia¹
7. Allegedly planned to use car bombs²
8. Targets included oil industry infrastructure²
9. Last major terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia occurred in 2006²
10. Saudi Arabia announced it had arrested 208 terrorists in November 2007²

Quotes

"Security forces managed to arrest one cell in the Eastern Province led by African residents...their concern was to get close to people working in the oil sector in order to find work in oil installations"²—Saudi Arabia Interior Ministry, Reuters

"Effectively, Saudi Arabia operates its own Guantanamo...Saudi security services operate a string of prisons where these kind of people go in, along with your ordinary dissident, and nobody will ever hear from them again."¹—Christoph Wilcke, Human Rights Watch, CNN

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