For years the Americans have been accusing Iran of supporting the Taliban. Iran, on the other hand, has denied all such allegations on the pretext that Iranians are Shiites, and that the Taliban are Sunnis who consider Shiites as heretics.
It was therefore nothing but a huge surprise when Saudi Arabia requested Iran to allow Osama bin Ladin’s (OBL) 19-year old daughter, Imaan, to leave Iran for Saudi Arabia. It turned out that since the attack on Afghanistan after 9/11, Osama bin Ladin's family members have taken refuge in a suburb of Tehran, Iran, where they have been hosted in a compound with ”trees and a swimming pool” and with access to computers and laptops, but not the Internet.
The New York Times quoted OBL’s older son, Omar and his British wife Zaina, that “at least six of Osama bin Laden’s children [including Osman, Mohammed, Fatima, Hazma and Bakr] and one of his wives live in a comfortable compound in Tehran with other relatives, for a total of about 30 family members there.”
Meanwhile, Asharq Alawsat reported that OBL’s young son Bakr suddenly surfaced in Damascus to reunite with his birthmother on Christmas Day last year. Bakr told the family that he had been in Iran since 2001.
These developments certainly raise a whole host of questions about the relationship between Iranian government and OBL’s family. First, if the family of Osama bin Ladin had taken refuge in Iran after the attacks on Afghanistan in 2001, was the family being held in Iran against its will or was it a case of habeas corpus. Saudi newspapers are suggesting that Osama's family was indeed under detention and that 19-year old Imaan escaped from captivity and reached the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran. In 2001, Imaan would hardly be 10 years old, and thus a minor alongwith other siblings.
Second, if this were not a case of habeus corpus, why would the Shiite government in Tehran be interested in providing refuge to Osama's family, which has not shown any respect or consideration for the Shiites in general, and have supported the murderous Taliban regime in Afghanistan that was directly responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Shiite Hazras. Put simply, why Iran did not extradite OBL’s family to Saudi Arabia, Syria, or UAE.
The Iranian government has observed that it would permit OBL's daughter to leave Iran once her identity has been established.
Bin Laden Son, Bakr, Arrives In Damascus from Iran
06/01/2010
By Mohammed Al Shafey
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Bakr Bin Laden, the youngest son of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Christmas night following an absence of more than eight years in Iran. However the case of Osama Bin Laden's daughter Iman, who sought refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, remains suspended, and Omar Bin Laden informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian authorities want to [first] confirm his sister's identity.
Omar Bin Laden, Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's fourth son, said that the single source of happiness or joy felt by the Bin Laden family was in the return of his youngest brother, Bakr, aged 16, from Tehran. Omar Bin Laden said that Bakr was reunited with his mother in Damascus suddenly and without pre-arrangements.
Omar Bin Laden told Asharq Al-Awsat "My youngest brother, Bakr, arrived from Tehran on Christmas Day, the family was overjoyed, and my mother wiped away many tears [of joy], and this increased our trust in God Almighty, for what is closed, by God's will, becomes open, and we thank God for this. However this joy will not be complete until the safe return of the rest of my siblings, God willing, from the Iranian capital."
Omar Bin Laden thanked the Iranian authorities for their good intentions towards his sister Iman who sought refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran more than one month ago. He also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that ten days ago he, along with his wife Zaina, and his mother, Osama Bin Laden's first wife Najwa al-Ghanem, applied for visas to visit Iran, and that they are still waiting for a response [to this request].
Omar Bin Laden confirmed that the Iranian authorities wish to first confirm his sister Iman's identity, along with the identities of his other 5 siblings who are present in Iran, and his father's wife, Umm-Hamzah.
Omar Bin Laden, aged 29, told Asharq Al-Awsat "we are ready to prove to the Iranians that these are the children of Bin Laden. For our part, we also want to prove our good intentions, and we will take my siblings to any place that they want to go outside Iran."
He said "the goal is to reunite the family after more than eight and a half years of sad separation."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed in an e-mail correspondence with Asharq Al-Awsat that his countries government will deal with the case of Iman Bin Laden seeking to leave the country on humanitarian grounds.
Iman Bin Laden is currently residing in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, but she wishes to leave the country. The Iranian government wants legal documentation from Saudi Arabia confirming her identity, as well as further clarification on how she came to be in Iran.
Mehmanparast said that once this process is completed, Tehran will deal with this case from a humanitarian perspective, which is interpreted by some observers as a sign that Iman Bin Laden will not face legal action for illegally entering Iran.
Omar Bin Laden revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he had applied for a visa to visit Iran after receiving a number of telephone calls from an Iranian woman speaking Arab in an Iraqi accent and claiming to work for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. She asked them to travel to Iran in order to receive Iman Bin Laden from the Saudi embassy, and the rest of the family members from the residential complex, and for this to take place quietly away from the eyes of the media.
Omar Bin Laden's wife, Zaina, told Asharq Al-Awsat that telephone communication between Iman Bin Laden in the Saudi embassy and her mother, Najwa al-Ghanem in Syria has been suspended for almost a week. She said that Najwa al-Ghanem is living in a state of extreme grief and sadness because she is not allowed to speak with her daughter. Zaina said that she thinks that what is happening is against the teachings of Islam, which advocates family unity and cohesion.
Zaina al-Sabah said she does not know "what the mother or daughter did to be denied communicating with one another in this manner." Zaina also called for the Iranian authorities to continue their good deed of looking after her husband's siblings since 2001 by rapidly facilitating their return to their family.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday that the Saudi government is in talks with Iran to secure the release of the Al Qaeda chief's daughter. Prince Saud al-Faisal said "we do not want to get involved in the political issues relating to this case because I do not want to complicate the issues, and possibly delay Iman's departure from Tehran."
The statements made by the Saudi Foreign Minister represent the first official response to this case by the Saudi government. Asharq Al-Awsat first discovered that Iman Bin Laden escaped from the guards assigned to her during a shopping trip in Tehran and sought refuge in the Saudi embassy. This story represented the first conclusive evidence that some of Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's children are present in Iran. This was later confirmed by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who confirmed that Iman Bin Laden is present in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and will be allowed to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed
In an e-mail to Asharq Al-Awsat, Omar Bin Laden said that he almost lost his life on more than one occasion during the years that he lived with his father in Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Afghanistan. He confirmed that he had visited his father's training camps, and that his father sent him to the frontlines more than once during the Afghanistan war [against the occupying Soviet forces]. He also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he was in the company of his father when he received the news of the bombing of two embassies in Africa, saying "we were quickly transferred to a safe house following the bombing of the two embassies, where we spent more than one month, during which former US President Bill Clinton bombed Afghanistan with cruise missiles."
AFP reported the following:
Saudi says in talks to bring Bin Laden daughter from Iran
(AFP) – Jan 2, 2010
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia said Saturday it is holding talks with Iran to repatriate Osama bin Laden's daughter to the kingdom after she took refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
"We consider this is a humanitarian issue," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference.
"We are negotiating with the Iranian government on this basis," he said.
Imam bin Laden, 17, recently fled from a family compound near Tehran to the embassy in hopes of leaving Iran, where she, several siblings and one of Osama bin Laden's wives have lived under house arrest for several years.
British newspaper The Times reported 11 of the Al-Qaeda terror network chief's grandchildren were also living in the high-security compound outside Iran's capital.
The group fled Afghanistan just before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and walked to the Iranian border, where they were detained and taken to the walled compound by guards, the Times said.
Prince Saud declined to give any details of the talks with Tehran, saying it could complicate the issue.
Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted on December 25 as saying the teenager would be free to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed.
"The foreign ministry told the embassy that based on international conventions if her identity is confirmed she can leave Iran with passage documents," ISNA quoted Mottaki as saying.
"We were not able to confirm her identity but the embassy says she is" the daughter of bin Laden, he added.
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