TEHRAN, 27 October 2003 — Iran said yesterday it would not reveal the names of top Al-Qaeda suspects in custody here, adding that a list of names it had given to the UN Security Council covered only members of the group already extradited. “Regarding the people who are in Iran, the Islamic republic prefers not to disclose their names because of the security issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
When asked if some of the detainees could be classed as high-ranking — confirmed several months ago by other officials — Asefi replied: “What I know is that there are a number.” On Saturday, state media reported that Iran had revealed to the UN Security Council the names of scores of suspected Al-Qaeda members in its custody.
A report to the council identified 78 suspected members of the militant network already extradited to their countries of origin, the official IRNA news agency said.
The Iranian mission in New York also provided the names of 147 suspected members of Al-Qaeda — or of its former Afghan hosts, the Taleban militia — who remain in custody here pending trial, extradition or deportation, the news agency said.
But Asefi contradicted the report. “What we have given is the names of 78 people who were arrested and given back to their country of origin. In the recent session, another 147 names were given,” Asefi said, adding that this list also referred to those “also extradited”.
Previously, Iran said it arrested and deported some 500 people belonging to or linked to Al-Qaeda since late 2001. Those who have been extradited are not believed to include any senior members of the group.
But the identity of those still being held here has been the subject of intense speculation. Diplomatic sources and Arab press reports have pointed to the possible presence here of four Al-Qaeda leaders who have all been stripped of their nationalities in their home countries. They include the movement’s spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a former Kuwaiti, and its No. 2 and No. 3 — Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Saif Al-Adel.
