WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department said Thursday it was in touch with Saudi authorities about a U.S. citizen detained for alleged links to a terror attack.
Ahmed Abu Ali, 23, of Falls Church, Va., was arrested in Saudi Arabia in June and has been held without charge since then. He is accused of having links to the May 12, 2003, attack in Riyadh that killed 23 people. Ali was studying in the University of Medina at the time.
The Washington Post first reported Thursday the State Department had staged two demarches, or government-to-government requests, to the Saudis on the issue. It asked the Saudis to either indict Ali or allow the Justice Department to bring him back to the United States, the Post said.
"I would say we speak regularly to the government of Saudi Arabia about this case," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters Thursday.
A State Department official said the matter was one for law enforcement and the department was merely "passing on messages from the Justice Department."
Ali's family has filed suit in federal court in Washington, saying the U.S. government had asked Saudi Arabia to detain him.
