Germany and Saudi Arabia have agreed an unprecedented cooperation pact to exchange information on possible terrorists, the German embassy in Riyadh confirmed Thursday. The intelligence-sharing will encompass possible terrorist financing and money-laundering, the two governments agreed, in a deal signed Wednesday evening in the Saudi capital.
The agreement was signed by German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his Saudi counterpart Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz. Schaeuble said that the son of the prince, Prince Mohammed bin Naif Abdulaziz, who is a deputy interior minister, and the former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, would be invited to Thursday night’s G8 meeting of interior ministers in Rome. The pair also discussed the case of the Saudi scholar Abdullah ibn Jibreen, a member of the Standing Committee for Fatwa and Research. Ibn Jibreen is currently in Berlin, undergoing medical treatment. Some Shiites from Iraq want to see proceedings opened against the Sunni cleric for his fatwas allegedly insulting those of the Shiite faith and for calling Muslims to take up arms in Iraq. According to the Saudi daily al-Iktisadiya, Prince Naif told the German delegation that the allegations against Ibn Jibreen were false and also that he held no public office in Saudi Arabia.
Key Words: Anti-Terrorism, Terrorism, Extremism, TopStories
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