Westerners freed

Riyadh

The Saudi government has pardoned and released five Britons and a Canadian who were jailed for more than two years on a dubious conviction for terrorism. The six businessmen were convicted—on little evidence, but with confessions extracted under torture—of planting several bombs in Riyadh in 2000. Two of the men were scheduled to be publicly beheaded. The Saudi government allowed them to leave the country this week only after they signed a letter apologizing to King Fahd and thanking the Saudis for their “hospitality.” Many ordinary Saudis are furious that the Westerners were released. An Afghan and a Pakistani were beheaded in Riyadh just last week for drug smuggling, and Saudis are complaining about a perceived double standard that punishes Third World criminals but not Western ones.

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