IRAN TO TRY SENIOR AL-QA’EDA TERRORISTS SOON
TEHRAN, 17 Aug. (IPS)
Iran’s revelations that the authorities have discovered and foiled terrorist attacks by al-Qa’eda on Iranian territory is part of plans aimed at both taking off international pressures while preparing public opinion for possible trial of members of the terrorist network it says it detains, according to Iranian political analysts.
Speaking to Iranian diplomats, Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani, the influential Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS) said Saturday evening that al-Qa’eda was preparing a series of terrorist operations inside Iran, but security services had discovered and foiled them, according to "Iran" daily, a newspaper published by the official news agency IRNA.
Though this is the first time that a high-ranking Iranian official make such a revelation, but Mr. Rohani, like other officials, provided few concrete details as to when the plots were discovered, what was the nature of the planned attacks, who are the culprits and weather the operations were aimed at Iran itself or other countries?
In previous statements, Tehran had said it detains some 500 members of the terrorist network, but at the same time it rejected American, Western and Arab press reports that it is sheltering several top leaders of the al-Qa’eda, insisting that security and intelligence services had not been able to establish the identities of several terrorists it has arrested.
According to these reports, Sa’d, the elder son of Osama Ben Laden, the leader of al-Qa’eda, who has been stripped of his Saudi nationality, Soleyman Abu Gaith, the movement's spokesman, denied of his Kuwaiti nationality, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Ben Laden’s right hand lieutenant and Saif al-Adel, the network’s new commander, both Egyptians, are in the Iranians custody.
Washington is asking the Islamic Republic to hand over these alleged terrorists and recently offered to assist the Iranians for their identification, but Iran has rejected the proposal on the ground that in the absence of any diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington, it is not possible to extradite them to the United States.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Ali Yunesi said three days ago that Iran could try those of al-Qa’eda members it had been unable to extradite, adding that others had been handed over to their home nations.
Jurists and experts said the new accusations against al-Qa’eda operatives would allow the authorities to try them in Iranian courts.
Diplomats say the Iranian authorities have been left in a bind, as they have been unable to extradite some of their most high-profile captives to their home countries as they have been stripped of their nationalities.
In a recent story, the usually well-informed Arab newspaper "al Sharq al Awsat", which is based in London and owned by the Saudis claimed that of fear to see the Americans bringing concrete proof of the presence of the senior terrorists in Iran, the ruling ayatollahs ordered the men to leave the country for safe places along Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan borders.
Tehran immediately denied the information, repeating that none of the named men were in Iran.
"But the denial is itself a confirmation of the (al Sharq al Awsat) story for the simple reason that the Iranians have always insisted that they have not identified all the al-Qa’eda men they detain. If this is correct, then the question is how they know Mr. Zawaheri and company are not among the detainees" pointed out Mr. Ali Keshtgar, an Iranian political analyst and journalist based in Paris. ENDS IRAN AL QA’EDA 17803
http://www.iran-press-service.com/