Saturday, June 28, 2003
'Iran negotiating handover of top Al-Qaeda men'
Agence France-Presse Tehran, June 28
Iran has been locked in highly secretive and complex extradition talks with Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over prisoners held in Iran who are widely believed to be senior members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, diplomatic sources have said.
According to the well-placed sources, the Islamic republic could deal the biggest blow to the network since the United States-led war in Afghanistan by handing over some of bin Laden's closest aides.
The sources said they have strong reason to believe that three top Al-Qaeda fugitives have been detained in Iran.
One is Egyptian-born Saif al-Adel, thought to have taken over as Al-Qaeda's number three from military operations chief Mohammad Atef, who was believed killed in Afghanistan.
The second is Saad bin Laden, one of Saudi-born Osama's eldest sons. He is thought to have taken a senior position in the running of the network. The third believed to be in Iranian custody is Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a Kuwaiti-born Al-Qaeda spokesman.
"There is firm reason to believe that Iran is holding some senior Al-Qaeda," a source said. "But the negotiations to hand them over are very delicate, so for the moment there has been no official word on who they are."
The Dubai-based satellite television news channel Al- Arabiya, quoting Western diplomatic sources, said the detainees may also include Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's Egyptian right hand.
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