Saudi Gazette report RIYADH/WASHINGTON — The Saudi ambassador in Washington said seven Saudi prisoners in the US would soon be repatriated to the Kingdom. Adel Al-Jubair said the Kingdom had signed a prisoner exchange agreement with the US. The embassy is currently identifying prisoners that meet the agreement conditions. Those prisoners will complete their sentences in the Kingdom. Al-Jubair said these procedures take time and the Kingdom has paid millions of riyals for bailing out Saudi prisoners in the US. Homaidan Al-Turki, a Saudi linguist convicted of sexually assaulting a housekeeper and keeping her a virtual slave for four years in Colorado, has cleared initial administrative hurdles for a transfer home under the treaty, a spokeswoman for the state's corrections department said on Friday. “Al-Turki's foreign national offender transfer application is awaiting final approval by the department's director,” she said. Al-Turki says he is innocent and a victim of anti-Muslim sentiment. In 2011, his sentence was reduced from 28 years to life to eight years to life. Al-Jubair confirmed the opening of a new consulate in Chicago to cater for the increasing number of Saudis studying there under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. He said agreements were signed with airline companies and large technology firms to train Saudi graduates for two years after their graduation. Most of these agreements also call for employing these students in the companies' branches in the Kingdom. The Saudi cultural attaché in the US, Mohammad Al-Eisa, said students clubs have increased from 23 in 2007 to more than 200 currently. He added that a committee was formed to look after distinguished students. There are 200 inventions submitted by Saudi students, he said. There are 1,500 students pursuing their fellowship studies and 500 dentists involved in different programs.
