ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State has threatened to kill Saudi citizens in its rank-and-file who want to leave the group and return home, and this is why no Saudi members of ISIS have turned themselves in, according to Riyadh’s new ambassador in Baghdad.
Thamer Al-Shabhan stressed that the reopening of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad this week – after its closure 25 years ago during the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis -- will now enable greater cooperation between Baghdad and Riyadh on threats posed by such Islamists.
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced in 2014 that recruits from ISIS or the al-Qaeda offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra, who turn themselves in will get more judicial leniency than those who are simply captured and handed over to the kingdom’s authorities.
The Saudi ambassador also said the new embassy will provide all the needed facilities for Saudi members of ISIS to turn themselves in.
The reopening of the Saudi embassy in Iraq comes after the closure of the Saudi embassy in Iran, which was firebombed by angry Iranians on Sunday, the day after Riyadh executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Many in Shiite-majority Iraq also were outraged at Nimr's execution, which analysts say may have an incendiary effect on the Iraq-Saudi relations days after the reopening of the embassy on Friday.
Thamer Al-Shabhan stressed that the reopening of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad this week – after its closure 25 years ago during the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis -- will now enable greater cooperation between Baghdad and Riyadh on threats posed by such Islamists.
Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced in 2014 that recruits from ISIS or the al-Qaeda offshoot, Jabhat al-Nusra, who turn themselves in will get more judicial leniency than those who are simply captured and handed over to the kingdom’s authorities.
The Saudi ambassador also said the new embassy will provide all the needed facilities for Saudi members of ISIS to turn themselves in.
The reopening of the Saudi embassy in Iraq comes after the closure of the Saudi embassy in Iran, which was firebombed by angry Iranians on Sunday, the day after Riyadh executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Many in Shiite-majority Iraq also were outraged at Nimr's execution, which analysts say may have an incendiary effect on the Iraq-Saudi relations days after the reopening of the embassy on Friday.
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