xDAVOS, Switzerland, 24 January 2004 — Iran plans to put about a dozen jailed Al-Qaeda suspects on trial, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said yesterday.
“They are currently in prison. Their relations are cut off from outside and they are going to be tried,” Kharrazi told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The US has long accused Tehran of harboring Al-Qaeda militants who escaped Afghanistan after Washington invaded in late 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
It was the first time that Iran had said it would put suspects of Osama Bin Laden’s network on trial.
The most important Al-Qaeda figure that Western intelligence agencies say may be in Iran is an Egyptian — Saif Al-Adel, the network’s security chief.
Kharrazi declined to comment on whether Iran was holding Al-Adel, saying he could not name any of the suspects for security reasons.
Asked if they were important figures, he said: “Al-Qaeda members are very important to everyone these days because of operating in different places.”
