Posted on 07/14/2004 10:24:27 AM PDT by Dog
Saudi Militant Sent Home by Iran - Newspaper
DUBAI (Reuters) - A suspected Saudi al Qaeda militant who said he returned from Iran under a state amnesty was handed over by Tehran after a request from Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said Wednesday. In a report citing a source in the Iranian presidency, the newspaper said Khaled al-Harbi, who was held by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was told two weeks ago that he would be sent back to Saudi Arabia.
Harbi appeared on a videotape with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which the two praised the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities. Officials say Harbi, who is now wheelchair-bound, fought in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Saudi and Iranian officials -- and Harbi himself -- said on Tuesday he took advantage of a Saudi amnesty announced on June 23. Saudi Arabia said he had been in the Iran-Afghan border region when he contacted the Saudi embassy in Iran to surrender.
But Asharq Al-Awsat said Harbi's return to Saudi Arabia followed a recent trip to Tehran by Saudi justice officials, after which Iran's Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi passed on a request to President Mohammad Khatami for the handover of al Qaeda suspects to Saudi Arabia.
"Khaled al-Harbi was informed of the Iranian decision to hand him over two weeks ago," the newspaper said. "He was taken from one of the (Revolutionary) Guard villas north of Tehran to a safe place near the city of Qom."
"The Iranian authorities gave him the choice of surrendering voluntarily to the Saudi embassy or being sent back to Riyadh," the paper added. "Harbi chose, according to the Iranian official, to present himself at the embassy."
Khatami Wednesday denied he had received any request from Saudi authorities to hand over Harbi.
"I hope one day I receive that letter," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "As far as I know, an Arab person who came from abroad agreed with the Saudis to be returned to his country and that is all that I know," he added.
Government officials in Tehran privately acknowledge they fear reprisals by al Qaeda and a loss of standing in the Islamic world if Iran is seen to be cooperating too actively in the fight against Osama bin Laden's group.
Iran has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations that it has harbored and collaborated with al Qaeda militants who fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.
An Arab diplomat in Tehran said he believed Harbi's return was "clearly related to the Saudi judiciary visit last month." We're looking for more gestures like this from Iran which I think would be in their own best interests," he said. Iran says it has arrested and repatriated hundreds of al Qaeda suspects in the last two years. It says it wants to put on trial some of the al Qaeda suspects it is still holding.
But Tehran's refusal to hand over a number of arrested senior al Qaeda members -- believed by security sources to include the group's security chief Egyptian Saif al Adel -- has infuriated Washington.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal said in January that under a security agreement, Iran had promised to hand over any Saudi in its custody but added Riyadh did not know how many of its nationals were being held by Iranian authorities.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Wonder who else is a guest of the Mullahs..
Looks like he was asked to leave..
This article repeatedly refers to the Saudi visit to Iran, but I'd assume that the Saudis were not just issuing their own opinions, but were probably carrying messages from us as well.
So the "just hopped over from Afghanistan" story was bogus. Unsurprising.
I figured Zawahiri, etc., were housed in some eastern desert Pasdaran base. Maybe they're in fine digs in Tehran and the holy city of Qom.
This is interesting, but I am still skeptical about the stated circumstances. What is really going on, and what is being said are probably quite different.
With or without dessert?
Shermy,
Great predicition, hence you're probably right.
Very interesting.
According to this article, the IRG were keeeping him in a villa? And the Saudis said as soon as he got to Saudi, he was put in a hospital because he was sick.
Yes, it will be a while before we find out the real story.
If we find out at all........
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