No good deed goes unpunished in Saudi: Syria fighters to be arrested on return to Kingdom

A Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman has warned Saudis fighting in Syria they will be arrested when they return home.

“Involvement in the Syrian crisis is against Saudi laws,” Major-General Mansour Al Turki was quoted as saying in a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

He said yesterday that authorities will also crack down on those planning to travel to Syria to join the fighting there and that some Saudis who joined the Syrian conflict have already fought for Al Qaeda outside the kingdom.

He also commented on last week’s arrest of an 18-member spying ring.

The ministry has said the detainees included an Iranian, a Lebanese and 16 Saudis who were suspected of “gathering information about vital installations and locations”.

Iran denied any involvement. Al Turki says the kingdom did not implicate any specific country.