Insider 12/13/04: 'Al Qaeda Sympathizers' Sentenced in Iran
Dec. 13, 2004 -- In an attempt to put an end to speculations triggered by an Iranian judiciary official's statement last week about al Qaeda members being tried in Iran, a foreign ministry spokesperson announced Sunday that only a number of "al Qaeda sympathizers" were sentenced. Senior members of al Qaeda network are believed to be in Iran, including Seif Al Adl, Suleiman Abu Ghaith and Osama bin Laden's son Saad.
Iran however has been issuing contradictory statements and refusing to reveal the identity of the al Qaeda members. Political divisions and power struggles in Iran appear to compound the problem. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is believed to have at one point provided safe houses for members of the terrorist network, while the government seemed to be against it. An Iranian interior ministry official told a Saudi paper recently that Iran was willing to hand over all of the al Qaeda members to their countries of origin.
Recent reports claimed a senior member of the Egyptian al Gamaa al Islamiya was extradited to Egypt, suggesting relations between the two countries may be improving which could have paved the way for the extradition of more high-value suspects like al Qaeda's Seif al Adl. Relations however quickly deteriorated after Egypt accused an Iranian diplomat of spying and plotting for attacks in the country. Moreover, Egypt said the Iranian diplomat was also involved in planning for terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, including an attack on a petrochemical site in the Saudi oil city of Yanbu in May. Iran strongly denied the charges.
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