Bin Laden daughter hides in Saudi embassy in Iran

Bin Laden daughter hides in Saudi embassy in Iran

www.google.com

CAIRO — A daughter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after eluding guards who have held her and five brothers under house arrest for eight years, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Wednesday.

It has long been believed that Iran has held in custody a number of bin Laden's children since they fled Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2001 — most notably Saad and Hamza bin Laden, who are thought to have held positions in al-Qaida.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.bloomberg.com
www.google.com

I never knew this was the case. OBL's Children have been held in house arrest for over 8 years???

If this story is true what were the reasons for the arrest? Why have they held them for so long and why hasn't this been posted here at ATS before? I did a search and came up with nothing. So if this has been reported previously then I apologize.


www.google.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 23-12-2009 by SLAYER69]

reply to post by SLAYER69


Very Intersting, I wonder if they are being held because Iran and Saudi considers OBL an Enemy or for there protection from American Spy agencies

reply to post by SLAYER69


This is the first I've heard about the house arrest, and a cursory search around the web shows no other information. Perhaps it simply hasn't been known until now? Pretty interesting development though!

Originally posted by poedxsoldiervet
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Very Intersting, I wonder if they are being held because Iran and Saudi considers OBL an Enemy or for there protection from American Spy agencies

Everything is fair in geopolitics...
That being said what were/are the advantages for Iran to hold them? There has to be an angle on the situation.

My biggest questions are

First how did they escape the Iranians?

And second if Saad and Hamza bin Laden held positions within Al-Qaeda and are now taking refuge in a Saudi Embassy, are not the Saudi's "harboring terrorists?"

[edit on 23-12-2009 by Studious]

Originally posted by Studious
My biggest questions are

First how did they escape the Iranians?

And second if Saad and Hamza bin Laden held positions within Al-Qaeda and are now taking refuge in a Saudi Embassy are not the Saudi's "harboring terrorists?"

You know this just gets stranger by the minute. This is why I thought I would post this thread. We can spin this story in all kinds of directions. One story I read said Saad was dead

After reading the article it appears only Eman the 17 year old daughter of bin Laden was able to escape.

And apparently Eman phoned Omar bin Laden (another son of Osama bin Laden) from the Saudi Embassy to tell him that 29-year-old Saad (Thought to be dead by the U.S. military) and four other sons of Osama were still being held in Iran.

Apparently the Saudi's are not "harboring terrorists." But if Eman is telling the truth that means the Iranian's are holding members of Al-Qaeda.

[edit on 23-12-2009 by Studious]

I believe Iran actually wanted to help the US after 9/11, with this capture they might wanted to hold a card as leverage in future conflicts, diplomatic tensions..
This could also be played out as OBL being in Iran as well, another reason to attack it..

Originally posted by Foppezao
I believe Iran actually wanted to help the US after 9/11, with this capture they might wanted to hold a card as leverage in future conflicts, diplomatic tensions..
This could also be played out as OBL being in Iran as well, another reason to attack it..

I was just waiting for somebody to find an "Attack Iran " angle.

Now we consider all family members of anyone who is anti-American a terrorist? Next we will begin salting the earth and putting people on spikes.

Originally posted by earthdude
Now we consider all family members of anyone who is anti-American a terrorist? Next we will begin salting the earth and putting people on spikes.

Who said anything about them being terrorist?
The story was about Iran holding them in house arrest for 8 YEARS.

Originally posted by earthdude
Now we consider all family members of anyone who is anti-American a terrorist? Next we will begin salting the earth and putting people on spikes.

Not all of Osama's children are considered terrorists.

Two however (Saad and Hamza) are considered terrorists by the United States Government who accuse them of being members of "Al-Qaeda."

[edit on 23-12-2009 by Studious]

If I had to make a guess as to why... it would be that bin Laden comes from a wealthy family and his org receives huge contributions from his supporters... something Iran would very much like to get their hands on, or at least control

We are after OBL not his family, obviously our agents probably have detained every family member we could get a hold of and interrogated them. They have given us all the information they possibly could (if any) Otherwise they are useless.

Originally posted by Foppezao
I believe Iran actually wanted to help the US after 9/11, with this capture they might wanted to hold a card as leverage in future conflicts, diplomatic tensions..
This could also be played out as OBL being in Iran as well, another reason to attack it..

I'm not sure that's the case.
Source

Al-Qaeda, an Islamist Sunni Muslim group, is hostile to Shiite Muslim-majority Iran. Sunnis who follow Wahabbi beliefs, such as bin Laden, don’t consider Shiites to be true believers in Islam.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Washington Times - June 2005

Al Qaeda had been working with Iran since at least 1992, when Iranian general Mohammad Bagr Zolqadr was running a Revolutionary Guard training camp in the Sudan, the briefer said. Zolqadr's ties to Osama bin Laden had been brokered by Ayman al-Zawahri -- the Egyptian terrorist known as "the Doctor."

Zawahri and his Egyptian Islamic Jihad group provided the muscle men for al Qaeda, giving bin Laden access to a virtually unlimited pool of manpower. Zawahri was the man with the Iran contacts. Throughout the 1990s, he traveled repeatedly to Iran as the guest of Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali Fallahian and the head of foreign terrorist operations, Ahmad Vahidi. Vahidi was the commander of the Qods Force and the man who supervised the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing.

Tracking Bin Laden

The idea that Bin Laden could have taken refuge in Iran is controversial, but al-Qaeda’s presence inside the country is well-documented. On January 16, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on several high-level al-Qaeda operatives in Iran. The Department indictment clearly states that some of these operatives helped bring members of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s and Bin Laden’s families to Iran. Bin Laden’s oldest son, for example, was in Iran until September 2008 when he left for Pakistan.

Treasury Targets AQ Operatives in Iran

In the mid-1990s, Mustafa Hamid reportedly negotiated a secret relationship between Usama Bin Laden and Iran, allowing many al Qaida members safe transit through Iran to Afghanistan.

In the late 1990s, Mustafa Hamid passed communications between Usama bin Laden and the Government of Iran. When tensions were high between Iran and Afghanistan, Mustafa Hamid traveled multiple times from Kandahar to Tehran as an intermediary for the Taliban.

In late 2001, Mustafa Hamid was in Tehran delivering messages from the Taliban to the Government of Iran. Hamid also negotiated on behalf of al Qaida in an attempt to relocate al Qaida families to Iran. As part of this effort, senior al Qaida member Abu Hafs the Mauritanian traveled with Hamid and two IRGC members to Tehran for meetings. Beginning in late 2001, the family of a senior al Qaida military commander lived with Mustafa Hamid's family in Iran. Separately, in 2002 Mustafa Hamid facilitated contacts between the IRGC and another senior al Qaida military commander.

After September 11, 2001, Ayman al-Zawahiri instructed Bahtiyti to take al-Zawahiri's family to Iran. Bahtiyti reportedly traveled to Iran with al-Zawahiri's daughters, where he was subsequently responsible for them. In January 2003, while working from Iran, Bahtiyti arranged housing on behalf of al Qaida.

In 2001 after the fall of the Taliban, Husain facilitated the move of al Qaida-associated fighters, including an al Qaida military commander, from Afghanistan to Iran. After leaving Afghanistan, Husain was responsible for smuggling al Qaida members and associates via networks in Zahedan, Iran. In early 2002, Husain sent $20,000 to a senior al Qaida lieutenant who had requested financial assistance.

Sa'ad bin Laden, one of Usama bin Laden's sons, has been involved in al Qaida activities. For example, in late 2001, Sa'ad facilitated the travel of Usama bin Laden's family members from Afghanistan to Iran. Sa'ad made key decisions for al Qaida and was part of a small group of al Qaeda members that was involved in managing the terrorist organization from Iran.

Time.com

Sources also tell TIME that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border.
[...]

The Iran-al Qaeda contacts were discovered [...] from as many as 100 separate electronic intelligence intercepts culled by analysts at the NSA.

One could easily go on posting for days showing evidence that idea the Shiite - Sunni won't work together is... incorrect.

A good example of this would be Abu al-Walid al-Masri AKA Mustafa Hamid -AQ Stratigic Planner from way back. In 2002 he wrote encouraging OBL to build up the "resistance" in Yemen. He was able to send $20K to AQ staff as noted by the Treasury. Hamid wrote two books, "Chatter on the World's Rooftop," and "The Story of the Arab Afghans, From Their Entry Into Afghanistan Until They Left With Taliban". He also has been a longtime part time "journalist" for Al-Sharq al-Awsat. To this day he maintains a "resistance blog".

He has been able to do all this while in "detention"... in Iran.


[edit on 12/23/09 by makeitso]

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Who said anything about them being terrorist?

The story was about Iran holding them in house arrest for 8 YEARS.

Perhaps you're reading a different thread?

Apparently the Saudi's are not "harboring terrorists." But if Eman is telling the truth that means the Iranian's are holding members of Al-Qaeda.

Very Intersting, I wonder if they are being held because Iran and Saudi considers OBL an Enemy or for there protection from American Spy agencies

---

This is all so very silly. It's almost like the paparrazi of the Middle East. I can expect by next year we are going to see "Keeping Up With The Bin-Ladens."

If OBL is even still alive (I don't believe he is) then why are we wasting time on this? For 7 years we simply "weren't that worried about him." Now we're worried about his children. Lets find the guy that supports the government's version of 9/11 and worry a little less about what embassy is holding the mastermind's kids.

I didn't know that Bin Ladens are supposed to be taught as terrorist. Maybe we should start hauling Tim McVeighs relatives to jail also. Just to mention one famous name. Also I've heard hitlers relatives are still alive, maybe we should stone them like the good book tells?

They fled from Afghanistan 'before' the events of 911. That right there has me wondering how much they knew. Did they flee because daddy bL was supposedly bragging about a great attack on the evil empire?

I don't know. Also, why would they flee to Iran? A state in conflict with the country they are associated with. Also the man they are associated with. It would be interesting to find out 'why' they fled in the first place.

Maybe they were fleeing from daddy. Then again, the two sons are known al' Qaida links (according to our government).

My first thoughts this morning when I saw this story was that there was going to be a link to getting the ignorant people who swallow everything that is posted in the news to get behind an attack on Iran. However, I don't see that panning out from this. It's a story about a family that fled to a country that was not friendly.

That's the strangest part of this whole thing.

edit to add: Most of the bin Laden family are NOT terrorists. A vast majority are simply regular people trying to live their lives. Just because they have the mans name doesn't automatically make them a terrorist like a few people replying here seem to think the OP or others are insinuating. That is not what is being said here with this post.

[edit on 23-12-2009 by dariousg]