Middle East News
Report: Bin Laden's son in Damascus after eight years in Iran
Jan 6, 2010, 11:20 GMT
Damascus - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's youngest son arrived in Damascus last month after spending eight years in Iran, the regional daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
Omar bin Laden told the London-based daily that his 16-year-old brother, Bakr, arrived in Damascus on Christmas Eve.
'It was a joyful moment for the family ... but the joy will not be complete until all my siblings arrive safely from the Iranian capital,' Omar was quoted as saying.
Omar also said that he had applied for a visa to enter Tehran with his British-born wife and his mother, Najwa al-Ghanem, Bin Laden's first wife, 10 days ago.
Bakr, as well as his four brothers and sister Iman, as well as another of their father's wives, a woman identified only as Umm Hamza, had been held in Iran since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that the Saudi and Iranian governments were in talks to allow bin Laden's daughter to leave Iran.
Iman had been at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran for a month and had asked to be allowed to leave the country, al-Faisal said. Iranian authorities said they would have to verify her identity first.
'We are ready to prove to the Iranians that these are sons of Osama Bin Laden,' al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted Omar as saying. 'We also want to prove our good intentions. We will take my siblings to any place they want to go to outside Iran.'
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