Washington -- A House committee chairman charged top Saudi officials Wednesday with lying about hundreds of American citizens -- mostly women and children -- allegedly being held captive in the kingdom.

The alleged captives include the two daughters of San Franciscan Pat Roush, who accused the Saudis of staging a "Stalinist show trial" in London Aug. 27, where her daughters disavowed her and said they did not want to return to the United States.

Accusing the Saudi government of "disinformation and PR stunts," Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., the chairman of House Government Reform Committee, brushed aside concerns about alienating a key U.S. ally on the brink of possible war with Iraq.

The Saudis "need us more than we need them," Burton said. He also charged that the Saudi government had been uncooperative in resolving abductions and aided in the kidnapping of three children in 2000. He also cited several instances in which the State Department had failed to provide help and thwarted efforts for people to escape.

Burton backed Roush's claims about her family, saying the Saudi government had spirited her daughters to London as a House delegation was on its way to Riyadh to investigate cases of U.S. citizens being held against their will. The House members intended to ask that the Saudi government allow Roush's now- adult daughters to meet with their mother.

The sisters, Alia and Aisha al-Gheshayan, were taken to Saudi Arabia by their father, Roush's ex-husband, Khalid al-Gheshayan, in 1986. The couple had been divorced the year before, and Roush had been awarded sole custody of the girls, ages 7 and 3, when they were abducted by their father. He is wanted in the United States on kidnapping charges.

Roush said she had seen the girls only once in the past 17 years and declared before the hearing, "I will not rest until my daughters are brought home."

As the House delegation was preparing to meet with Saudi officials about the sisters, Burton said, the Saudi government flew the two women, their husbands and Alia's 4-month-old daughter to London without notifying either the committee or Roush.

Burton said that in London, "they were surrounded by Saudi men and high- priced handlers. It's impossible to tell if they were speaking their minds." He said the Saudi government had first called the visit a vacation but later admitted it had arranged and paid for the trip.

Women in Saudi Arabia, which is governed by Islamic law, are not allowed to leave the country without written permission of a male relative or guardian.

The sisters, now ages 23 and 19, spoke to a State Department official in London, where they condemned Roush and declined an offer of admission to the United States. Roush was not invited by the State Department to participate.

The sisters then met with two reporters invited by the Saudis, one from the Associated Press and the other a producer from the Fox television program "The O'Reilly Factor," where they repeated their statements.

"This last circus orchestrated by the Saudi government with Bill O'Reilly and the State Department . . . was an absolute farcical situation," Roush said.

Roush said when she last spoke to Aisha, her youngest daughter, in 2001 by telephone: "She said, 'Hello Mom. I love you, Mom. Come here, Mom, help,' and then the phone was taken away from her."

The Saudi government issued statements denying the charges, saying the Roush case had been resolved.

"The Al-Geheshayan sisters have told the American government and the media that they do not wish to live in the United States, and they do not wish to maintain contact with their mother," the government said.

Roush said the Bush administration had been unwilling to intervene, calling the matter a child custody issue and a voluntary decision by two adult women.

"What's happened to my family is absolutely criminal," she said.