Efforts to implement a Saudi-Iraqi prisoner exchange have taken on extra urgency after it became known that three people facing the death penalty in Iraq are members of the Saudi royal family dpa reported
Saudi Arabia has been pushing for the exchange of the six Saudi nationals, reported an Iraqi state-run newspaper on Monday.
Iraqi Lawmaker Kamila al-Moussawi told the al-Sabah newspaper that three of the six Saudi nationals currently on death row are members of the royal family.
Saudi Arabia's royalty, the Al Saud family, is composed of thousands of members, though power rests with descendants of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz.
"Saudi Arabia seeks a deal with the Iraqi government to exchange them with convicted Iraqis inside the kingdom," said al-Moussawi, of the National Alliance, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Moussawi's announcement came a few days after Saudi newspaper Al Eqtisadiya reported that the proposed deal would cover 113 Saudi prisoners in Iraq, including six on death row, and 138 Iraqi prisoners in Saudi Arabia, of whom 11 are facing execution.