Strange Twists in Bombing Case

The man U.S. authorities believe drove the getaway car in last year’s fatal bombing of the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia has been in American custody and charged with terrorism since June. But there’s now a chance that Hani Sayegh will escape American justice. The key reason is the Saudi government’s refusal to share the evidence it has on Sayegh’s role in the bombing, which killed 19 American airmen assigned to Dhahran. Under a plea-bargain agreement Sayegh was to plead guilty to helping plot an earlier anti-American attack in the kingdom and tell U.S. officials what he knew about the Khobar Towers bombing and other terrorist acts. In exchange he would have been given a 10-year sentence and escaped prosecution for the barracks bombing.

Without Saudi cooperation the case against Sayegh is seen as mortally weakened. No case, no plea bargain, no prison sentence. That doesn’t mean Sayegh is about to become a free man. Saudi Arabia seeks his extradition. And the Saudi dissident, who has admitted to American officials that he was trained in Iran, fears his forced return to the kingdom would lead to his prompt execution. No doubt he’s right. His lawyer says Sayegh will fight any extradition effort and may in fact seek political asylum in the United States. That raises the interesting possibility that a man implicated in the murder of Americans could be granted the protection of American laws to escape punishment in his own homeland.

Could be, but probably won’t. In fact the Saudi request provides U.S. officials with some useful leverage. If Sayegh wants to avoid extradition he still has the option of cooperating with American investigators and accepting the earlier agreed-to prison sentence. Otherwise he can take his chances with Saudi justice.

Whatever happens, the stonewalling by the Saudis will continue to vex bilateral relations. Repeated top-level efforts to get information on the bombing, including four trips to the kingdom by FBI Director Louis Freeh, have been rebuffed. The Saudis want to control essential information because they are deathly afraid of exposing the nature and extent of the opposition to the royal family’s rule. The Saudis have always said Iran was behind the bombing. They may be right. But if so, Iran demonstrably worked through a network of Saudi agents. By refusing to share vital information with U.S. intelligence services the Saudi regime may help to assure that many of those agents remain undetected.