Ahmad Abdullah Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – In another desperate attempt to prove its resilience after repeated defeats and losses, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a new video of Saudi diplomat Abdullah Al-Khalidi who was abducted by the terror network in Yemen last March. In the video uploaded on YouTube Sunday, Al-Khalidi appealed to the Saudi leadership to step in and save him. Al-Khalidi, deputy consul in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, on March 28 in a bid to secure the release of female prisoners and collect a ransom. “My fate is unknown as long as the women remain in prison. Release those women, they release me the next day,” he said, wearing a traditional white robe and red head-gear. The women, who are being held by Saudi security services, are relatives of Al-Qaeda fighters, he said. It was obvious that Al-Khalidi was saying what he was ordered to say, observers pointed out. In April, a militant who claimed responsibility for Al-Khalidi's kidnapping threatened to kill him unless a ransom was paid and Al-Qaeda prisoners were freed from Saudi jails. Al-Khalidi had made a similar appeal on May 25. A Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman at the time, cited by the Saudi Press Agency, warned that the abductors were “responsible for the security of Abdullah Al-Khalidi.” Riyadh has been exerting all efforts to get Al-Khalidi released through direct and discreet negotiations with the tribal leaders in the violence-wracked country. Al-Khalidi is the third Saudi national to be kidnapped in Yemen in as many years.
