A Saudi court has released five women who allegedly had links with Al-Qaeda, an official said Monday, but implied that the move was unrelated to demands made by captors holding a Saudi diplomat in Yemen. “Five women held on security charges have been released based on judicial orders in two different cases,” interior ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki told AFP. The court ordered the release of two of the women “one month ago because they were pregnant and close to their due dates,” Turki said, adding they remained on trial out of custody. “Three others were released on bail early this week pending trial.” On March 28, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula abducted Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi Arabia’s deputy consul in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, in a bid to secure the release of female prisoners and collect a ransom. Khalidi had repeatedly made appeals to Saudi King Abdullah to secure his release by agreeing to the demands of his captors.
