Riyadh releases 10 businessmen from detention

RIYADH

Saudi authorities have released 10 businessmen from detention, according to an activist group on Tuesday.

"The authorities have released ten of the Ritz-Carlton [Hotel] detainees in the past two days," the so-called Prisoners of Conscience group said on Twitter.

The activist group said Ethiopian-born billionaire Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi was among those set free.

There was no comment from Saudi authorities on the report.

On Monday, the Ethiopian television confirmed that al-Amoudi had been freed by Riyadh.

In November 2017, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of businessmen and princes on corruption allegations and held them in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.

Over the past months, Riyadh released a number of them after financial settlements worth 400 billion riyals ($107 billion).