Baghdad urges Riyadh to free detained Iraqis

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s parliament on Wednesday called on Saudi authorities to release Iraqi citizens who have been held for several months.

Lawmaker Raed al-Maliki told reporters that parliament had received the detainees' families at the invitation of the first deputy speaker, stressing, “We are still waiting for a positive response from Saudi Arabia to facilitate their swift release.”

The Parliamentary Legal Committee had earlier revealed that nine Iraqis remain in custody in Saudi Arabia. The committee affirmed it has been in contact with Iraq’s embassy in Riyadh but noted that their case has not been handled fairly.

On the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s emergency ministerial session in Jeddah on Monday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein delivered an official letter to his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, formally requesting their release.